When Feelings Change
by Jisbon4ever
Summary: "He's a big boy and he can take care of himself, Lisbon. What are you, his mother?" She pinched his arm.    "Ouch!" He yelped, rubbing his 'wound'. "That's what you get for being an ass." Lisbon turned to look back out the window and silence fell. JISBON!
1. Chapter 1

**This is the effect of me in pain.*lol* I haven't been feeling well lately, but this idea wouldn't let go. It's stuck in my head. I am aware that I have to update my other stories, but that will have to wait until my headaches stop. I'll stop blabbering now. Hope you like. All mistakes belong to me, blah, blah, blah. I don't get why they keep saying they see each other like brother and sister. That is so wrong. Lol (Doesn't Lisbon look really pretty on the 3x10 promo? Love her hair.)**

**Thank you Laura for the title. You are the best!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the show. There I said it! Happy? **

********THE MENTALIST********

"Hey, everyone." Jane came strolling in and greeted everyone with a big smile. Of course who he wanted to see was Lisbon. Not that he would tell anyone, especially to her.

"Hey Jane." Came three voices.

"So, why do you think Boss is late" Rigsby asked while trying to swallow a donut. Grace gave him a *don't talk with your mouth full* look.

"Lisbon isn't here?" Jane asked from his couch. It was really unusual for Lisbon to not be here before everyone else. She was a workaholic. Work was her life. Where could she be? More importantly, with whom? Not that he cared, it was just pure curiosity. At least that's what he told himself.

"Nope. She called in to say she was gonna be late. No idea why." Grace said.

"Maybe she had some errands to run." Cho added.

"Mmmm... Maybe." Jane said in a soft voice. He was obviously thinking it through.

"Maybe she had some company last night and..." Rigsby started speaking.

"Or maybe you could mind your own business!" Came a voice from behind him.

"Bo... Bo... Boss?" He muttered turning to look at her then at Grace and back at his Boss.

"Bo... Bo... Boss what, Rigsby?" Lisbon asked. She raised an eyebrow at him and waited for an answer. Not getting one she smirked and headed for her office. It was fun messing with Rigsby.

"Nice one." Cho smirked and Rigsby glared at him. Grace couldn't help smiling as she went back to checking her e-mail.

Jane on the other hand stood up and followed Lisbon. He was not Rigsby, therefor, he was not giving up until he got some answers. And they better be good enough to satisfy him. Lisbon seemed a lot happier today and he wanted to know why. It wasn't like her to just let Rigsby go without chewing him for awhile then spitting him out. She simply let it go. Just like that. Of course, if it would have been him the one making those comments, he would be dead by now. Something was up.

"Where were you and why?" Jane got straight to the point. No point on waisting time.

"Excuse me?" Lisbon turned around to look at him after dumping her stuff on top of her desk.

"I want to know why you were late?" Jane crossed his arms.

"Because I can." She responded.

"Yes, but why?"

"Why what?"

"Why were you?"

"Why was I what?"

"Stop that."

"Stop what?"

"That!"

"That?" She shook her head and smiled.

"I don't think is any of your business, Jane. So drop it." She sat down on her chair and turned to her computer to start it up. She was ignoring Jane.

_Drop it. _Did she not know who she was talking to? This was him. _Jane!_ He couldn't drop something. Not knowing only made it even more appealing to him. He couldn't control himself. That only picked his interest further more. How can he let something go? Especially when it came to her. _He frowned. She was ignoring him. How dare she?_

"It is my business, Lisbon."

"How so? Please do enlighten me. I am interested on how my personal life concerns you."

"Well, for starters, you are my friend." He smiled at her. "I'm worried about you. Who knows what can happen to you if you get involved with the wrong person."

She laughed at the irony. "Pardon me, but if that were true, I can take care of myself. Thank you, but no thanks."

Jane frowned again. This wasn't working. "Yes, I'm well aware of that." He stayed quiet for several seconds. They were having a staring contest. "Just tell me who you were with!"

"Fine. I went to the airport to pick up my brother James. Happy?" She stood up.

"Yes." In more ways than one. It was a relief to know that she wasn't with another guy. Not that he cared. It was only brotherly concern, surely.

"He's actually coming here during lunch. He is here on a business trip and I'm happy to see him." She smiled.

"What a relief." He muttered.

"What?" Lisbon asked.

"That's a good thing." Jane quickly said.

"So, do I get to meet him?" Jane asked with a smile.

Lisbon let out a puff of air. Obviously thinking if it was a good idea for them to meet. Which in turn made Jane smile brighter.

"I guess." She replied. Seeing him smile only made her smile, too.

_**XXX**_

"Tessie!"

Lisbon was standing right next to Grace's desk when she heard her brother calling her. He always called her by that nickname. _Tessie. _With a huge smile on her face she headed his way.

"You're early." Lisbon commented while she was being embraced by her brother.

"I couldn't wait to see you, again." He let her go, but kept close distance. "The meeting was cut short. I decided to come here and surprise you. Surprise!"

"It's not really a surprise when I knew you were coming James." She teased.

"Tessie..." James whined. _God, he reminded her of Jane when he did that._

By now, Jane had risen from the couch and was headed her way. _Smiling like no other. _

"Are you gonna introduce us, Lisbon?" _And by us, I mean ME!_

Lisbon turned around and looked at Jane with an annoyed impression. _Here we go, again._

"Um, yeah. James," She turned to her bother. "This is Patrick Jane. My team's Consultant."

"Nice to meet you. I heard nothing about you." James said.

Jane frowned. Did she not talk about him to her family? That was a first. Everyone liked talking about him. Whether it was a good thing or bad, but they talked. How could she...

"I'm kidding, dude. She talks about you all the time."

"Does she, really?" Jane asked while glancing at Lisbon. This time, a big mega smile on his face.

"Do not!" Lisbon defended and James laughed.

"Mostly about him Tessie." James argued. He was having fun teasing her. Always had. Ever since they were little.

"Yeah, well." She paused, thinking her words through. "Mostly complaints."

"True." James agreed. Jane laughed and Lisbon looked away.

"Come along and meet the rest of my team." She pulled him towards the bullpen, meanwhile ignoring Jane.

After meeting the Team, a glare from Rigsby because he flirted with Grace and a couple of jokes from Jane; James invited everyone out for lunch. Jane agreed before he had finished asking and the others after he had finished.

"I want to see your office before we leave Tessie."

"Come on, that way I can lock the door afterwards." And they headed of to her office.

The rest of the team went back to their desk to collect some things. Grace grabbed her purse and followed Rigsby to wait by the elevator for their Boss and her Brother. Rigsby was a little grumpy. Jane and Cho were left behind.

"What do you think?" Asked Cho, signaling to Rigsby and Grace.

"I think someone is jealous of Lisbon's brother." Jane said while laughing a bit.

"Yeah." Cho agreed. "He wasn't the only one." He pointed out, smirking.

Jane stopped laughing and turned to look at Cho with a frown.

"What do you mean?"

Cho raised an eyebrow. _In a manly way._

"Come on Jane. Don't act dumb."

"I don't know what you mean."

"It really doesn't look good on you man." Cho added.

He waited for Jane to say something, but he never did. _Could Jane really be that clueless when it came to his own feelings? Oh, Brother, Cho thought. _

"You were jealous when you didn't know where Lisbon was. Admit it."

"I admit no such thing!" Jane defended himself. _He was not jealous!_

"Come on, just admit it." Cho argued in a low voice, just like Jane.

"I.. I.. No! You are way off my friend." Jane laughed, nervously.

"Whatever you say man." Cho rolled his eyes.

"No, not whatever I say. I was not jealous!"

"Ok, you fooled me." Cho added with sarcasm.

Jane was not liking were this conversation was going. He did not see Lisbon other than as a colleague or a friend. And Cho was not making any sense, whatsoever.

"I've seen the way you stare at her ass Jane."

Jane was speechless._ He did not! _After a long pause and a very mean stare to Cho, he finally was able to get his ability to talk, back.

"I do not! … Let me just tell you that I see Lisbon as a sister."

"Really?" Asked an incredulous Cho.

"What kind of weird family raised you?" He smirked and headed towards the elevator, leaving Jane behind.

"Jane, are you coming?" Lisbon asked him as she came out of her office.

Jane had been thinking it through. He needed to clear some things. Why would Cho say such a thing? Lisbon was a beautiful woman, but he was not attracted to her. _Right?_

"Jane?" She asked again. It was obvious he was thinking of something else.

"Yeah." He snapped out of it and followed.

**XXX**

"Tessie, I have a surprise for you." James said.

They were all sitting in an out door table to Lisbon's favorite restaurant. The view was really pretty, it was no wonder why she liked it. The atmosphere was great. They were all chatting along while waiting for their food.

"I wonder what it is?" Lisbon asked with sarcasm. It was so like James to have as he so called them, "Surprises."

James smile grew. "I think you will like this one Tessie."

Jane and the others were enjoying the chit chat, a lot. It was fun to see their Boss so relaxed. Especially Jane. He was having a blast. He had discovered that he shared the same humor as James. It was also something to tell Cho about. That only proved that he saw Lisbon as a sister.

"Ok, what is it?"

"You have to close your eyes first."

"James..." She warned and Jane laughed.

"Please, Tessie." James smiled at her.

"Fine." She gave up. She could never say no to him. Especially when he looked that excited.

So she waited for her surprise. "What the...? She felt a hand cover her eyes from behind her. _Was this necessary? She had already closed her eyes. And who was the person who did so?_

"Who is this?" She asked, bringing her hands to remove the one covering her eyes. She could here James laugh.

"Hello, Beautiful." Came a voice she hadn't heard in a long while.

Jane was waiting for her to kick the person who called her Beautiful. Who did he think he was? Apparently he didn't know Lisbon that well to know she did not like to be touched by strangers, or anyone that wasn't related to her.

Lisbon stoop up like if she had been burned and just stared at the tall and handsome man.

_Beautiful?_ Rigsby mouthed to Cho.

This is what Jane had been waiting for; A show down. Any minute now, she would kick his ass. _Jane smiled._

"Don't I get a hug?" The man asked.

"Jack!... You're back." She smiled.

This was not what Jane expected. _Who the hell was Jack? And why was he calling his Lisbon, beautiful?_

Lisbon was now being held by another man. A very handsome man at that. In a long hug. _What was going on? _

Cho looked over at Jane and smirked. Jane's smile fell. _This was not happening. _

_*****THE MENTALIST*****_

_**Hope you like the first chapter. Do you want me to continue? **_

_**I just can't stay away from a jealous Jane. He is like that piece of chocolate cake that you know you shouldn't eat because it has to many carbs, but you still eat it. Then you feel guilty, but not that much because it was delicious. Yeah, like that. Darn. Now I want cake. This is what medication does to me... lol **_

_**Please Review and tell me what you think. **_


	2. Chapter 2

_**Thanks to everyone who reviewed the first chapter and wanted me to continue. For those of you who I couldn't reply back to; Thank you so much. I appreciate the support from each and everyone of you. **_

_**Chocolate cake for everyone who added the story to Favorites/Alerts and for the reviews. You guys rock!**_

_**DISCLAIMER: I own nothing, except Jack! Yay. (When I think of him, I think of Hugh Jackman.)**_

_********THE MENTALIST********_

"I'm so glad you're here Jack." Lisbon murmured, giving the handsome man another hug. She seemed to have forgotten about the other people around the two of them.

Jane paid special attention as she ran one hand through the man's face. She was obviously happy to see him and he wasn't sure how to feel about that. Cho's words came floating back. _"You're jealous. Admit it!" _Damn the Asian Man!

After a few minutes, Lisbon realized that there were still people around the two. Something that Jane was pleased about. At least now she would tell them who the intruder was. _And why was he still holding her?_

Turning around, she directed her next words to the team. "Everyone, this is Jack Buchanan," she turned to look at said man. "A family friend."

"Jack, this is my team," she turned back to her rookie Agent. "Grace Van Pelt."

"Nice to meet you." Grace went to shake his hand, but he kissed it, instead, making her blush. There was no point in denying that Jack was a handsome man. Rigsby glared at Jack.

Jack grinned and turned to look at Lisbon.

"This is Wayne Rigsby," The men shook hands. "And this is Kimball Cho."

"Nice to meet you. Tess has told me a lot about you." Jack told Cho.

"And finally, but not least, this is Patrick Jane. Our Team Consultant."

"Your not gonna kiss my hand are you? I don't want to blush like our dear, Grace." Jane made fun, which made Grace turn a deeper shade of red.

"Not if you don't want to." Jack teased.

Jane let out a fake laugh, which in turn made Cho smirk. _He is so jealous, Cho thought._

"Don't you love your surprise, Tessie?" James asked, knowing she loved it.

"Yes," she turned to look at Jack. "I loved it." she smiled.

Jane didn't like the way they were looking at each other. _Who knew what this guy was capable of. He had to protect Lisbon. _

"So," Jane interrupted. "Will you be joining us Jack?" _I hope not. _

But instead of Jack answering, Lisbon did. "Of course he will." She had a big radiant smile on her face when she said so. The kind of smile that he fought so hard to get out of her, but another man did so easily. _He really wasn't liking this, at all._

"Sit here next to me." She told Jack and he gladly did. _Jane frowned_. They were now sitting awfully close.

The food had arrived and Lisbon now noted that James had already made an order for Jack before hand. She was really happy with the surprise. Jack had been a very important part of her past and now, hopefully, her present and future. She had to thank her brother later on.

"So, why are you here?" Jane questioned Jack and Lisbon glared at him. She was not amused with his tone. "In the city, I mean." He ignored Lisbon and tried to focus on his competition. _Competition? Where did that come from?"_ He shook his mental, self.

Jack smiled and placed a reassuring hand on Lisbon to let her know it was ok. "I actually came here because of work, but I couldn't deny myself from seeing Tess again." He smiled back at her and she blushed. Jane was really not liking this.

"Are you going to stay long?" Grace finally spoke after her embarrassing display earlier on.

"For several weeks, actually." James was the one to answer.

Cho and Rigsby were keeping quiet. They were just listening in and eating.

"You two work together?" Jane asked to the both of them.

"Yes, we are both Architects." James replied and Jack nodded.

"James is here for the Architect Convention," Lisbon turned to Jack. "And apparently so are you. Why didn't you tell me you were coming?" She asked accusingly, but only in a teasing way.

"I wasn't sure if I was coming beautiful." James nodded to Jack's words. Jane on the other hand, tried to stop his eye-roll when he heard Jack's term of endearment. More so when Lisbon didn't seem to mind. "It was a last minute thing. I don't even have a hotel room, yet. My bags are currently occupying some space in your brother's room."

Lisbon smiled. "You can stay in my apartment; I have plenty of room. Imagine all the fun will have."

Jane almost did a spit back wile drinking some tea. _Did he just hear right?_

"Are you ok man?" Rigsby asked when the consultant started coughing.

Cho padded Jane's back.

"Are you ok Jane?" Lisbon asked.

"Yeah, just a little accident."

"You sure?" Jack asked and Jane nodded. _What was wrong with him? He was usually well composed._

Cho was the only one who knew why Jane was acting this way. Lisbon had asked this Jack character to stay over in her apartment. They knew she had a spare room, but she didn't specify if she wanted him to occupy the guest room or her own. Cho could see Jane's mind coming up with all sort of scenarios. How he didn't realize he was totally in love with his boss was beyond Cho.

Turning back to look at Jack, Lisbon waited for an answer.

"Are you sure? I hate to be a bother."

_Too late for that, Jane though. _

"You are never a bother Jack. Remember how much fun we used to have?"

_What kind of fun? Jane wanted to know, but didn't ask._

"Besides, James had the excuse of a glamorous hotel room and didn't want to stay with me." She looked at her brother and he just grinned back at her. " Are you gonna really make me beg you too?"

_Now he had her begging? Jane wanted to hit something really bad and he didn't fully comprehend why._

"Of course not. I'll be glad too." He smiled at her.

_**XXX**_

Lisbon relaxed, truly relaxed, for the first time in a long time. Jane noted this and in a way was glad to see her like that, but in another he was sad because it wasn't him that caused the rare event. It was the stupid, yet charming Jack Buchanan_. He had to give him that. The man was actually fun to be around. If it weren't for the fact that he had every woman, (mostly Lisbon) that set eyes on him drooling, he would have really enjoyed his company. _

Lisbon and Grace were tent to every word that came out of his mouth. He was rather charming and attractive. His eyes were a honey shade and he had dark hair. _Just like Lisbon liked them, Jane noted. _Not to mention he was as tall as Rigsby. He was rather handsome to Jane's and Rigsby's dislike.

After everyone finished their meals, Lisbon gave Jack her house key and told him to go ahead and make himself at home.

"The team and I have to go back to the office, but I'll try to be home before eight." Lisbon told Jack and said goodbye to both him and James.

_Back home before eight? That sounded to domestic for Jane's liking. Could it be possible that he had more than friendly and sibling feelings for her? He was so confused. _

The team said their goodbyes as well.

Jane turned to look at Cho and glared at him.

_This is all your fault Cho. I was leaving in denial, yes, but I was perfectly fine with that! Was what Jane said in his mind and Cho seemed to understand him without hearing him say them out loud. _

Cho padded him on the back and smirked; something that did not amuse Jane, at all.

_********THE MENTALIST********_

_**TBC...**_

_**Thanks for the support. Hope you liked this one. The next one shows more of Lisbon and Jack. (I love writing his character) lol**_

_**Review...**_


	3. Chapter 3

_**Ok guys, what I meant to say before was that I love writing Jack's character! (I LOVE HOW YOU GUYS ARE HATING HIM.) Not that I prefer him over Jane. I love Jane, so back off! lol He's mine!**_

_**Thanks to everyone who reviewed. To the ones I can't DM, you guys are awesome. **_

_**Disclaimer: Have Jane and Lisbon kissed? No? Darn... The show still doesn't belong to me. Maybe for my birthday this Friday, but I'm not that lucky. Lol**_

_********THE MENTALIST********_

"So... you and Jack." Jane was leaning by Lisbon's office door. He wanted to directly ask her about her relationship with Jack, but didn't want to get her angry. _Even when he loved the look she gave him when he angered her. _

"Jack and I what? Lisbon asked raising an eyebrow. Jane had been acting weird; more than usual and she wanted to know why.

"He seems to have a thing for you," Jane looked into her eyes. "And you for him."

"Excuse me?" She couldn't believe Jane's words.

"I'm just curious as to what kind of relationship you two have."

"We're just friends, but if we were something else, it's certainly none of your business!"

She was getting angry, but Jane just kept on pushing her. He wanted to know and by God he was going to.

"It sure didn't look like pure friendship to me!" He stated.

"I told you we're just friends." Lisbon stoop up from her chair. "What do you want to hear Jane? That we're more than that? Would that make you happy?

_Hell No! _"I just want to make sure you're ok. Is that so bad?" He asked, giving her his sad puppy eyes. _Hopefully, that would make her take pity on him. He hoped._

_Damn him and his beautiful eyes. He looked adorable. What the hell was that, Teresa? Compose yourself. _

"Look Jane, I have work to do. Make yourself a tea and go rest in your couch." She gave him a smile.

_He loved her smile. He could look at her forever... wait! She was trying to make him lose interest. That minx! It almost worked, but he knew better than that. _

"You don't want to talk about it," He began again. "But I just wanted to make sure he was a good guy, is all." _He lied. Of course he wanted to talk about it further more, but for now he understood that she wasn't going to say more. _

Jane retrieved to his couch without making himself a tea. He wasn't in the mood for it really. All he wanted to do was lay down and ponder on some things. With the arrival of Jack Buchanan to their lives, (more specifically Lisbon's) he didn't know how he should feel about it, or even if he should feel something. He blamed Cho.

_**XXX**_

Everyone had left home already with the exception of Jane and Lisbon. Jane had been quiet all day after he talked to Lisbon. He only got up to use the facilities. Cho had noticed and had asked him what was wrong, but Jane was no fool. He knew that Cho already knew what was going on in his mind. It was his fault after-all. After glaring at him and then saying he was fine, the Asian man left him alone.

He needed thinking time to himself. At some point he wanted to go up to his hide out so he could think in peace, but he didn't want to move. Part of the reason was so that he could keep an eye on things down here. More precisely, he wanted to know Lisbon's every move.

Now that everyone was gone, he though that he could go and have a chat with her. It was one of the few things he enjoyed doing. He could always count on her to make his life a little more bearable. _It was as if she was his flashlight in a darken room. His sunshine in a gloomy day. His... ok, stop right there, he though. _

Deciding that that was enough thinking from his part, he stood up and headed to her office. When he got there however, she was coming out with her stuff. _Was she leaving? _

"What are you doing?"

She was in the process of locking up her door when she heard Jane's voice. "What does it look like?" She asked without even turning.

"It looks like you're heading home," He frowned. "but why?"

"Because it's time to go home."

"That's not an excuse. You always stay later than," he took her shoulder to glance at her watch. "seven o'clock."

"Is there something you need from me, Jane?" She asked. All she wanted to do was go home.

"Yes, I want to know why you're leaving so early!"

"Because I need to get home. I'm tired, is all."

He didn't believe her. I's was obvious why she was in a hurry to get home. _He _was there; waiting for her. Yes, perhaps she was tired, but that was not an excuse. How many times had she stayed later no matter what?

"It's because you want to get home to _Jack." _His tone a bit reproachful. "Is it not?"

She just stared back at him with one of her glares. "Yes Jane, I do have a guest at home and I would love to go home to him. Happy?" With that, she headed to the elevator.

_Not at all! He most definitely was not happy!_

"He's my best friend." She called out before he could say something else.

He just stood there not able to talk. Her words repeating in his mind. _"Yes Jane, I do have a guest at home and I would love to go home to him. _

"_He's my best friend." _Words that broke his heart in more ways than one.

"_I though I was your best friend, he whispered to himself._

Minutes passed by and he finally made a move to go upstairs to that attic of his. He really needed to clear his mind. He needed to find out why it bothered him so much that she left to see another man. _Another night without sleeping, he thought. _

_**XXX**_

She had been thinking about Jane all the way home. The way his eyes looked when he talked about Jack. The way he questioned her. Why was he acting so weird? And why did she feel bad for leaving him behind? She knew that he wasn't going anywhere. He practically lived at the CBI. Up on that attic; which he practically made into a room. She wanted to tell him to go home; get some rest. He must have an apartment in Sacramento.

She felt bad, but what could she do? It's not like he would listen to her. He had been distancing himself from the team. From _her. _Then why was he acting like this now? She didn't get it.

Arriving home, she pushed her thoughts about Jane away. She would ponder over that another time. Right now, she was going to enjoy a nice evening with her friend. Getting out of her car, she saw another one parked next to hers. Maybe James was here. He did mention he would be renting a car to get around.

Sure enough. When she came in, she found James and Jack on her couch talking.

"Hey guys."

"Tess, you're early." James exclaimed. "I thought you would be home much later." he added.

"I decided to leave early since I had nothing to do," She smiled. "Besides, I have a guest to attend to."

"That's sweet of you beautiful," Jack smiled. "but you really didn't have to worry about me."

"What kind of host would I be?" She teased.

"The most beautiful one for sure."

"Would you guys stop flirting?" James teased. "I'm hungry and you have nothing in the fridge Tess." He whined. "Do you ever eat?"

"Sorry about that. I don't really spend much time here."

"We can order some food." She said.

"Or we can make some PB&J's like when we were kids. Remember?" James added.

Both Lisbon and Jack smiled. It was a tradition of them to eat PB&J's. It all started when they were kids and had nothing to eat do to the lack of money because their father had stopped caring to provide anything. Later on, it became their thing.

"I saw some bread and PB&J in your cabinets." James said.

"Then why didn't you eat some before, since you were obviously starving?" Lisbon asked.

James seemed to ponder it for awhile before coming with an answer. " I didn't think of it." He shrugged his shoulders. Jack simply laughed followed by Lisbon.

_**XXX**_

Later when James had left, Lisbon decided to take a shower before going to bed. Afterwards, she changed unto her jersey and climbed to bed. She assumed Jack had done the same. He must be tired from the flight and needed to rest as well.

Sleep wouldn't come to her. She kept thinking about Jane. Of how sad he had looked at her. It broke her heart that he was hurting after all the events caused by Red John. Why couldn't the serial killer leave him alone?

She was interrupted from her thoughts when she heard a knock at her door.

"Tess?" Jack whispered. "Are you sleeping?"

"No. Come in." She answered.

"Hey."

"Hey."

"What's up?"

"Nothing," He said. "Just wanted to talk like old times."

She smiled. _Like old times. How she missed those long talks with Jack. He was always there for her. Always when she needed him the most, but lately they hadn't talked in awhile and she missed him. _

"Not if you're to tired, though." He added.

"Not tired. I would love to talk like old times." She smiled at him and padded the end of the bed for him to join her. He settled in with his hands on his chin and smiled back at her.

"It feels like when we were kids." Jack said.

"Yeah, good times." Lisbon added.

"I'm glad you're here Jack," she began "I missed you so much." she finished a little teary.

"I did too," He gave her a big smile, "but I'm here now. Don't cry beautiful."

"Sorry. It's just that..."

"I know." He said.

"I owe you so much."

"Don't say that. You owe me nothing."

"I do. You saved me and my brothers when Dad..." By now her cheeks were stained with tears.

"I did what anyone else would have done."

"Yes, but it was you." She touched his cheek with her hand and he brought his to cover hers and smiled.

"You owe me nothing, ok?" She nodded, but in her heart she knew that without him she wouldn't be her today; nor would her brothers.

She wiped her eyes and smiled at him. "Thanks for always being there for James. For all of us.

"My pleasure. They are all good men." He paused for a sec. "No matter what differences they have between them."

"You heard about what happened with Tommy?"

He nodded. "It will get better."

"Yeah, but..."

"Look at me Tess," she glanced at him. "It wasn't your fault. You have to stop blaming yourself." He took one hand and placed it on one of hers. "You raised them the best you could and look at them, They all did good."

"Thank you, Jack. You always know what to say." She smiled.

He wanted to change the subject so that she wouldn't cry anymore. There would be plenty of time to talk about that any other time and he would be there for her. They smiled at each other.

"So..." Jack began. "What's with you and Mr. Jane?"

"What do you mean?" She asked confused.

"Come on Tess. It's obvious the sexual tension between you two." Jack smiled and she dropped her jaw. _What the hell did he mean with sexual tension? They had no such thing! _

"I'm tired Jack, and so are you. Go to bed." She said.

"Fine, but don't think I'm done with this conversation." He smiled and she rolled her eyes but smiled back.

"Sweet dreams beautiful."

"Night,Jack."

She stayed thinking about Jane and herself. _There was nothing going on between them. Right? _After some time, she finally succumbed to sleep.

_**XXX**_

_**I guess Jane managed to sneak up on this chapter more than he was intended too. Lots of Jisbony moments coming up... Yay!**_

_**Hope you liked this chapter and the length. Let me know what you think with a nice review. **_


	4. Chapter 4

_**This is short and probably the last chapter. I'll be coming after the Holidays to update and with a beta. She is on vacation and hasn't been able to do it, but later she will. I just want to thank everyone for the alerts and the favoritism and what not. Also to those who sent me a message and wished me Happy Birthday yesterday. Thanks for all the reviews and pardon for all the mistakes. You guys are the best. See you in awhile. Hope you enjoy this. **_

_**Disclaimer: Still not mine. **_

_********THE MENTALIST********_

_**Jane's POV**_

He had been thinking it through. All night he lay there. Sleep didn't want to come to him, not that that was unusual, but it was the reason that was. He couldn't take her off his mind. It had happened before, but not like this. Never like this. The hours had gone by and he had only been able to close his eyes for a little bit. Now it was morning and soon everyone would arrive.

He got up and did what he usually did in these cases. He headed to his locker and then to the showers.

After finishing up, he decided to head back to his couch on the bullpen. It was much more comfortable than that rusty attic. Nothing compared to his lovely couch. He let himself sink unto the comfortableness of his couch and closed his eyes.

_Maybe Cho was right. Maybe I do feel for her more that brotherly love._ He opened his eyes again.

He stared at the ceiling and pondered his feelings. Could it be true? Was he able to love again? So many questions were invading his mind and he felt a tingle of worry, but at the same time, something close to relief. Why relief?

His right hand went to touch the ring in his left hand. Could he really move on? Could he take his ring off? What would that even mean? Closing his eyes, he let himself think of his past. How happy he had been. The way he was before; the way he is now. He thought of his wife. The day they met, got married, had a child. All of that came tumbling down the day he talked about Red John. The day he came home to find the lifeless bodies of his lovely wife and innocent child.

He had thought that life after that couldn't be possible. The months he had spent locked up in that horrible place had been torturous. He did get the help he needed, but not the right amount. Ever since he came out of that place, he swore he would one day find the monster who took them away and kill him. Make him pay. Make him suffer.

He remembered going to their graves for one last time and kneeling down in front of their head-stones and making a promise. There, in front of their names he had promised to not rest until he killed Red John. Until he payed. Until he was a hundred feet under ground and burning in hell like he deserved.

_Would I be breaking that promise by moving on? _

Jane took a long breath and though of his wife. Would she have wanted him to move on? To be happy even though she was gone. How could he know for sure?

Jane heard the ding of the elevator and assumed it was Lisbon who had arrived. She was always the first one to get there before anyone else. Other than him that is. He turned his head to see if it was her, but it wasn't._ That was odd, he though with a frown on his face. _

"What are you doing here?"

"Good morning to you too, Jane" Cho said with his usual deadpan face.

"Sorry, I thought you were Lisbon."

"Aw... Sorry to disappoint you, man."

"Why are you here so early?"

"Why are you?" Cho fired back.

"Touché."

"Long night, is all." Jane positioned himself back the way he was before.

"Thinking things through."

"No, just..."

"That wasn't a question, Jane." Cho interrupted Jane.

_Damn, he seems to know what I'm thinking. When did he become so smart?_

"I've always been smart." Cho added.

"How did you know...?" Jane turned to look at Cho.

"I can read minds too."

"No, you can't." Jane smirked.

Cho only raised an eyebrow.

"You're good." Jane finally said.

"Can I ask you a question?" Jane stood up and headed towards Cho.

"Shoot."

"How did...uh..," Jane was hesitant. "How did you know what I felt for Lisbon was more than brotherly love."

"So you admit it?"

"Admit what?" Jane was confused.

"That you feel something more," Cho smirked. "You just said it."

"I asked you." Jane defended.

"Yes, but you asked me how did I know that you felt more than brotherly love."

"I...I.." Jane was speechless. He had just admitted it out-loud. "You're good."

"What do you really want to know Jane?"

Jane looked down for a moment and though through his next words. He then turned to look up at Cho. He had been waiting patiently for him to continue.

"How do I know that my wife would want me to move on?" Jane asked with a serious tone. His hand went back to touching his wedding ring.

Cho didn't say anything for awhile and Jane though he would leave it at that, but he didn't.

"What would you have wanted her to do?" Cho finally asked.

"What do you mean?" Jane didn't know what Cho meant by that. He wasn't expecting a question. He wanted an answer.

"If she was the one to be alive, and you be the one dead," Cho paused and looked him straight in the eyes. "Would you have wanted her to move on, or live miserable for the rest of her life?

Jane didn't say anything. He just kept quiet.

'Think about it. Then you'll get your answer." Cho finished and sat down on his desk.

_Cho was definitely smarter than he let anyone see. _

"I'm getting some tea." Jane said and retreated to the kitchen. He only saw Cho nod.

_**XXX**_

While making himself some tea, and some coffee for Lisbon for when she got there. Which he expected would be soon, he thought over his talk with Cho. _What would I want? Definitely for her to move on, he though. _

With a slight smile, Jane headed out. He wanted to to set the coffee on Lisbon's office. It was locked, but he had his ways to get in.

With tea in one hand, and coffee in another, he started walking towards her office. He heard the ding of the elevator and by the sound of the steps, he knew it was her. Sure thing it was her.

"Morning Lisbon." He smiled.

"Morning Jane." She couldn't help but smile back.

"Is that for me?" She signaled to the coffee.

"Of course it is my dear."

She opened her office door and he followed her in.

"Thank you, Jane."

"My pleasure." He said handing her the mug.

Emerald-green eyes met sea-green eyes.

_She'd want me to move on. He thought. _

Both smiled at the time and didn't stop their staring contest. It wasn't weird. It felt good.

_Thank you, Cho._

He wants her, needs her, in his life, in his bed, in his heart, and he has every intention of fighting for her. For what they can build together. It might not be perfect, and the circumstances aren't ideal, but he finds himself not caring for them right now. All he wants is to confess his new found feelings to her and hold her for dear life. He won't let anyone stop him. Not Red John, not anyone else. He'll be damn if he lets Jack have her. _Not if I can stop It!_

He found his answer.

_********THE MENTALIST********_

_**HAPPY HOLIDAYS. **_

_**Hope you liked this and I'll see you guys soon. I'm exited for chapter five. I'll also be returning to my other stories after the holiday break. Take care.**_

_**Review...**_


	5. Chapter 5

**__****I hope you guys had a great Holiday. Here is ch.5. Thanks to everyone for the wonderful reviews. I really appreciate it. Also thanks to everyone who added me and this story to their Alerts/Favorite and what not. And I hope you guys enjoy this chapter and tonight's episode. I'm so excited. **

**__****Especial thanks to lysjelonken for being my Beta. You rock, Zanny!  
**

**__****Disclaimer: Not mine. **

**__**********THE MENTALIST********

"So... why do you look so happy today?" Lisbon frowned. "What did you do now?"

"Why do you always assume I did something wrong?" Jane smiled.

"Because you're you."

If Lisbon thought that her comment would make his smile falter, she was wrong. If anything, it made him smile brighter.

"Fine, I'll give you that," He took a seat on her office couch. "But no, if you must know, I had a good night sleep. No nightmares."

Jane sipped his tea but kept looking up at her. He could tell she was surprised at his honesty. Never before had he shared anything about his nightmares. Sure, he knew that she suspected, but never before had they actually talked about it - or about anything in his personal life for that matter. He could practically hear the cogs in her brain turning, working in overload. He'd laugh, but he didn't want to get shot.

"I... I'm glad to hear that," She smiled at him. A genuine smile. "So..."

"So..." He mimicked her, unsure of what to say next, or more precisely, how to say it.

"How was your evening, my dear?" Jane took another sip of his tea and waited for her to answer. He doesn't want to show her how much he really wants to know what she did, more importantly, what she did with a certain guest of hers. So he tries his best not to show his emotions. That is what he does best, after all…

Or at least so he thinks, because the gleam of curiosity in his eyes doesn't go unnoticed by Lisbon.

She knows that twinkle all too well. After years of working with Jane she's learned the meaning of many of his looks.

"It was good," Lisbon takes a sip from her coffee, savoring the deep taste. "Yours?"

Jane looks at her, gets lost in the way she closes her eyes while enjoying her beverage, the way her lips press together, the way her cheeks look all rosy and how in this moment, the urge to kiss her is stronger than ever before.

"Jane?" He snaps out of his little trance as soon as she calls him – strange how the tables have turned and she's now the one putting _him_ into trances… When he brings himself back to reality, their eyes lock.

"Yes, dear?"

Lisbon's eyebrow raises. She can't help but notice that he's using terms of endearment lately when referring to her (_Even more than usual…),_but she doesn't say anything. Deep inside of her she knows why she doesn't bother telling him to stop - because she likes it. (_Besides, when does he ever listen to me? Even if I beat him with a baseball bat every time he calls me 'dear', he wouldn't learn…)_

Besides, the way he looks at her when he says those sweet words is enough for her to let it all go.

And furthermore, she is Lisbon. This is what she does; she pushes things behind. She hides her discomfort deep beneath the surface; she buries her heartache and longing underneath layer upon layer of false nonchalance. She doesn't let her emotions control her, at least not until they're at boiling point. And certainly not in front of anyone.

"Uh... You didn't answer my question…" She doesn't break eye contact, blue eyes meeting green in an intense gaze. "And you got distracted."

He smiles, another genuine smile. "So did you."

"What?"

"Got distracted I mean," Jane explains and chuckles. "And it was pretty good. Like I said before, slept like a baby and..."

The phone interrupts their conversation; a new case. And soon they're working with the team and their conversation is pushed to the back of their minds.

Jane misbehaves as usual and Lisbon gets that much closer to developing that ulcer of hers…

But today, when she tries to get him to behave at least a little, he listens.

_**XXX**_

The case was a tough one. One of those cases where you have to walk on eggshells around the press; one of those cases that were expected to be solved in two seconds flat, and outrage followed if it took any longer.

And there was a kid involved.

A young girl had been killed and Lisbon had to give the news to her parents and little brother.

She hated this part of the job. It reminded her too much of her past, watching the family deal with the horrifying fallout of a untimely death. But the thing that bothered her the most was that the little girl's killer was still out there. Still on the streets, free to kill another.

She could never understand why things like this happen. Why people could do such cruel things to one another. And yes, maybe if it wasn't for that she wouldn't have a job, but right now she would give anything to return the life that was so cruelly taken away.

But she can't. The best she can do is promise the near-hysteric mother that she'll do everything she can to get the bastard that did this.

Somewhere along the day, she finds herself on the roof of the CBI looking out at nothing in particular. Lost in her thoughts. So lost that she doesn't notice that she is no longer alone.

A certain blonde was standing right next to her, waiting for her to acknowledge him first. And if she does, she certainly doesn't show it until he makes a show at clearing his throat. It's only then that she snaps back to the present and feels his hand close to hers. Almost touching but not quite.

It should bother her that he is interrupting her alone time, but the truth is that it doesn't. His presence somehow makes her feel better, but to hell she's not going to admit it.

Jane is worried about her.

He knows that these types of cases hurt her more than others. Hell, it hurts him too. That little girl reminded him of his little Charlotte, but right now it's not about him, it's about Lisbon. He came up here to make sure she was okay. To make sure she didn't do anything drastic, like jump._(Although knowing her, she would never do such thing. She values life too much to end it.)_

Jane knows that he's been standing here for a while without anyone saying anything. He doesn't know exactly how long it has been, but by now she's noticed his presence, he can tell.

The silence isn't awkward but it isn't comfortable enough for him not to want to break it. He's worried about her and he wants to hear her voice, want to hear her talking to him. He wants reassurance.

Then he looks over to her and sees the small smile tugging at her lips. He can't help himself from smiling as well…

"It's rude to ignore someone when you've already acknowledged their presence." He says.

"It's rude to interrupt someone's alone time." She retorts.

Both turn to look at one another, and once again deep ocean-blue meet emerald-green. Her eyes are watery, he notices, but says nothing. He doesn't want to ruin the moment.

Reassuring false smiles are exchanged, before Jane is once again the first to break the silence.

"How are you?"

She takes a deep breath and closes her eyes for a moment.

A tear slowly rolls down her cheek and without thinking he raises his hand and wipes it away with his thumb.

Her eyes open and his hand is still lingering in her face. She leans into it and he smiles.

"I'm okay. Thanks."

"I was worried about you. I had to make sure you were fine and didn't jump off the roof or something."

He notices his mistake as soon as she turns away, and he silently curses himself. "I'm sorry. I... I didn't mean it like that."

"It's fine." She says, but she doesn't turn to look at him.

"It's not. I wasn't thinking when I said it. I..."

She cuts him off. "When do you ever think?" She smiles to soften the biting words and looks away. But he sees that she's dismissed it and that she doesn't take it to heart. He's forgiven.

They stay there for who knows how long. Neither one of them cares about the time.

They look out at the city; the sun is setting, staining the evening sky, and they watch as the bright red turn to the darkness of night. It's beautiful.

Although Jane thinks that there is something, _or someone,_who is far more beautiful to look at.

_**XXX**_

"Where's Boss?" Rigsby asked Van Pelt.

"She went to get some air up on the roof. Why?"

He and Cho had just arrived back from interviewing a suspect.

"Why is she up there?" Cho voiced out one of Rigsby's same questions. Lisbon isn't the type to allow herself breaks during cases.

"I think this case just feels personal…" Grace didn't have to explain any more; the other two agents understood all too well.

"Damn, I need her to sign something before we can head home."

"Where's Jane?" Cho asked noticing he wasn't in his couch.

Grace's only response was to raise her eyebrow and he understood.

"I don't want to go up there and bother her, but I really need her to sign this," He rubbed his stomach. "And I want to go home. I'm hungry." He whined and Grace rolled her eyes.

"Then just leave it in her office and she'll do it when she gets back." Cho told him.

"No way, man. Remember what happened the last time I did that? It got lost beneath all those papers and she didn't find it until it was too late?" Rigsby frowned remembering the incident. "She yelled at me. And I was on stakeout duty for three cases."

"Then stop whining and go up there and get it over with." Cho told him and Rigsby glared at him.

"Easy for you to say."

"He's right. Stop whining and go do it already. You would have been done already." Grace added.

Rigsby was about to glare at her too, but stopped when she gave him another look.

"Fine." He picked up the folder and headed to the stairs, looking like a kid who had been yelled at – or was about to be.

"While you're up there, ask her if we can leave?" Cho yelled so that he could hear him.

_**XXX**_

They don't know how long it's been nor did they really care. It feels good to be like this.

But after several more moments, it's once again Jane who breaks the silence.

"I know this case is hard, but you'll be okay. You always are… And if you ever need anything, I hope you know that I'm here for you."

He turns to look at her while saying so. And after a while, she turns to look at him too.

"Thank you, Jane." She smiles. His eyes are shining again and she feels like they pull her in. They are so beautiful and she feels like she could just stay there and stare at him forever. Little does she know he feels the same way about her.

And then she realizes she's staring and looks away, blushing.

"I love it when you blush." He says.

She blushes even more, if possible, and looks away. He chuckles at the shy smile and pink tinge in her cheeks until he notices that she took a few steps back, away from him. That simply won't do, he decided. He's become accustomed to her body being close to him, her body heat radiating and her soft breath. Even if it was only a few minutes that they were that way.

Jane moves closer, standing in front of her. He gently takes her hands in his and raises her chin to look up at him. Directly into his eyes. He doesn't know what came over him. He really didn't plan for this to happen this fast. At the very least, he wanted to tell her how he felt before actually taking a second step.

But she's too beautiful for her own good.

Too breath-taking for him to stop and think about the consequences.

His eyes hold hers and before she knew what was going on, he kissed her.

The kiss was light at first. But then his hand glided up to her hair and held her head firmly as the kiss deepened. She couldn't resist him; his lips were so soft, so addictive._God, the man could kiss._Her fingers ran their way through his golden curls. _That hair_… She's always wanted to touch his hair, since the moment they first met. To feel how soft they were under her fingertips.

The kiss began to intensify as he placed a hand at the small of her back, pushing her body towards him. Wanting to feel her closer than was possible. She ran one of her hands over his neck while the other one stayed at his curls. Both moaned into the kiss.

Jane was the one to break it, but only to pepper kisses along her exposed neck. He kissed and sucked and she moaned harder. That only turned her on even more and it was now her turn to do the same to him.

She took her hands and held his head and he let her. She kissed his forehead, eyelids, nose, lowering to his jaw and kissed him harder. He moaned, obviously enjoying what was being done to him. He turned his head to the side, allowing her more access to his neck and she did the same thing he did to her. The sensations where heavenly. Unlike anything he had ever felt before, but he needed to kiss her again.

Both their breathing were erratic and their hearts were pumping wildly. The need for air became eminent, but their lips wanted more. Needed more. They pulled away reluctantly but only enough to get some air and then kissed again.

Neither of them noticed the door that led up to the roof open; probably because they were too busy making out and their eyes were closed.

"Boss I ne... Oh my god!"

Both Jane and Lisbon opened their eyes when they heard Rigsby's panicked voice. Their mouths still glued together, but not for long. They separated, more like Lisbon pushed Jane back so that she could talk.

"This is not what it looks like." Lisbon tried to say, but Rigsby interrupted.

"I... I... I'll go wait downstairs Boss. Sorry." He couldn't have run faster if he wanted too.

"Oh God." Lisbon panicked and couldn't, didn't dare to look at Jane.

"Lisbon I..."

"Please don't," She begged. "I'm sorry. I don't know why I acted that way. I'm so..."

"Don't apologize." Jane cut in.

"No.. I.. I" She really didn't know what to do or say, so she just left him standing there and headed downstairs. Hoping, praying, Rigsby or Jane wouldn't say anything. She really didn't know what to say or think. And more than anything, she didn't want to explain this situation to her superiors…

Jane was left standing there, looking at the woman he loved walk_(run)_away, but he would be dammed if he was about to let her get away. Not now, not ever.

They needed to talk. So he followed soon after.

_**XXX**_

"What did she say? Can we head home?" Cho asked as soon as he saw Rigsby was back.

"I didn't see anything!" Rigsby yelled in response before running off in another direction, leaving Cho and Grace with confused expressions.

"What?" Cho was the one to ask.

Lisbon came stumbling soon after, followed by Jane calling her name and running after her. When both reached the team, there were glances and weird and questioning looks waiting for them.

"What happened?" Both Grace and Cho asked at the same time.

TBC

**__****I hope you liked this one. I couldn't resist the kiss. It wrote itself. I swear. Also I couln't resist messing with Rigsby.**

** __****Go Jisbon! What do you guys think will happen now? Hum...**

**__****Please tell me what you thought with a nice review. **


	6. Chapter 6

**Sorry for the wait. It's been so hectic and I'm experiencing some health issues and then there was a mix up with FF. I hope you forgive me. So here is chapter 6. Enjoy. Chapter 7 in on its way to being beta-ed. Thank you to all the amazing reviews and alerts. They do make me feel better. :) So R/R. **

**Thanks to my incredible Beta, Zanny. You really make this better. **

**Disclaimer: I wish it was mine, but sadly it isn't. :(**

********THE MEANTALIST********

"Where's Rigsby?" Lisbon asked, slightly out of breath.

"What happened?" Cho asked.

"Oh, nothing. Nothing…" Lisbon looked away. "He wanted something right?" She said, looking back at him.

"He needed you to sign some papers," Cho replied. "Didn't he tell you?"

"Nope. Just ran off. Guess he didn't see me." Lisbon said.

"He headed towards the kitchen... I think." Grace cut in. "Can we head home, Boss?"

"Yeah, you guys can go home," The team couldn't help confused expressions at Lisbon's anxious and lost appearance. "I'll go find Rigsby and then head home. Yup, that's what I'll do."

Cho raised his eyebrow at Jane, who was standing right behind her, but he ignored him and looked the other way. There was something fishy going on here, and it wasn't the fish he and Rigsby had for lunch.

"You guys have a nice night and see you tomorrow." With that, Lisbon turned on her heel and marched off. A woman in a mission.

Jane would have joked and laughed at the situation if it wasn't for the fact that he was involved. Damn Rigsby for interrupting. That was going really well until he came and busted them.

Boy, was that a kiss. He had never experienced such a feeling before.

He wasn't about to just let what happened stay like that. No matter what, he was going to talk to her. Nothing could change that; not even her and that annoying stubborn streak of hers.

He knew her well enough to know she was probably going to think of some lame excuse and blow it off. Like that she was too tired to discuss it, or, (by the miniscule chance that she _did_ talk to him) say it was a huge mistake brought on by a moment of weakness and temporary insanity.

But there was no way he was going to let her do that.

Not when it took him this long to admit his feelings.

Not when he finally allowed himself to love again, finally allowed himself to see what he's had in front of him all along.

Cho abruptly broke Jane's thoughts the moment Grace gathered her things and left for the night.

"Jane?"

"Yes, Cho?"

"What happened up there?"

"Whatever do you mean?"

"Cut the crap and get to the point." Cho said with his usual straight face. He wasn't about to suddenly start falling for Jane's tricks. "You know what I mean."

Jane hesitated for a moment, weighing his options. On the one hand, Cho was no fool and he _was _a detective after all. He would find out sooner or later… On the other hand, if Lisbon found out he told him, she'll castrate him… If she found out. But Cho would never tell anyone – he was way too loyal for that – and Jane certainly wouldn't. So he sucked in a deep breath and braced himself for the inevitable.

"Rigsby caught Lisbon and I kissing on the roof."

For a moment his words hung in the air, surrounded by a heavy silence. Cho has always been a hard one to read. How was he going to react? If the mood struck him, the large Asian man could easily beat him to a pulp for messing with his boss…

"Nice." Cho smirked, and it almost blew Jane off his feet.

Cho then turned on his heel and grabbed his case, heading home as well. _Someone owed him a hundred bucks._

_**XXX**_

He had ran away as fast as he could possibly run. Seeing Jane and the Boss kissing had been humiliating as hell. More than that, it was weird. Really, _really _weird. Bosses weren't supposed to have _lives!_ They were supposed to be vague, authoritative characters that were in their offices every morning when he arrived and every night when he left.

He couldn't even begin to describe all the things he felt. Somehow, his run brought him to the kitchen. He really needed a stronger drink than water right now. _What was worst is that he now owed Cho a hundred dollars._

"Rigsby!"

Rigsby almost choked on his water.

Turning around, he came face to face with his Boss and somehow this all became even more awkward.

Lisbon didn't even know where to begin. How to explain to someone something she didn't even understand herself.

"What you saw up there was a mistake."

"You really don't have to explain anything to me, Boss. I..."

"I just don't want you to get the wrong idea. I myself don't know exactly what happened."

"You and Jane kissed." Rigsby reminded her.

Lisbon blushed. "I know that Rigsby." She sighed. "What I meant was that I don't know why it happened."

"Oh." He turned away.

"I think it was because of the case," She started to speak again but this time she looked away. "It didn't mean anything."_How come she didn't believe her own words?_

"You really don't need to explain anything to me." Rigsby repeated.

"I know, but I want too," She then looked him in the eyes. "Just to be clear; I don't want this to go around." She warned.

"Not to worry Boss, I won't say a word."

"Thank you. Now what do you need me to sign?" And just like that, it was settled… She hoped.

But she wasn't naïve enough not to expect someone else to cause more trouble…

_**XXX**_

Lisbon was wrong if she thought he was going to leave.

First of all, he practically lived in the CBI. It was rare that he left to go sleep somewhere else. There was his couch and now the attic. Why would he go anywhere else? Yes, he did have a small apartment here in Sacramento aside from his house in Malibu, but he rarely went there. What was the point anyway? There was no one waiting for him.

Jane pushed the self-loathing thoughts away for a moment and focused on the task at hand.

Talking to Lisbon about the amazing kiss they shared. Confess his feelings to her and hope that she felt the same way. He would be crushed if she didn't. Although, given the way she kissed him up on the roof, he was sure she at least felt attraction towards him. That had to be good, right?

So now he was left sitting on the couch in her dark office, waiting for her. She ran off to go talk to Rigsby about what he saw; probably try to explain. He wasn't really concerned about it (if things go according to plan, then he'll want the whole world to know about them!), but she is obviously not okay with it.

She had to stop at her office before heading home; her bag was still here, and in it her car keys. Not that he would put it past her to leave her car in the parking lot and her office unlocked for the night and hail a cab home just to elude him… He was starting to get impatient.

She had to come back to the office. They _need_ to talk about this _tonight_.

_**XXX**_

The bullpen was empty and she wanted to get her things and go straight home. Hopefully Jane was up in the attic, because she didn't see him lying on the couch in the bullpen.

Hopefully it meant that he felt the way she did, and thought it was a mistake. Even worse, he was probably feeling guilty for his actions. As if he had betrayed his wife. _Somehow, this isn't making me feel any better… _She mused to herself as she walked into her office…

As she closed her door, the lamp turned on.

"I was waiting for you. We need to talk."

She froze. Somehow deep inside of her, Lisbon had known that Jane wouldn't leave this alone. She was just hoping he'll leave it tonight. She didn't have energy left in her for a screaming match.

Not wanting to turn around and face him, she immediately headed to her desk and started straightening the various pieces of stationery on it.

"Not now Jane. I need to get home."

Jane had expected her to react that way, but it didn't change the hurt he felt at her biting tone.

"You don't _need_ too…" He said, his voice sounding smaller than she's ever heard before. "You just want to run away."

Once the words came out of his mouth, he immediately wanted to kick himself. He didn't mean for it to come sounding that mean, or to insinuate that she ran away from her problems, but...

She abruptly spun around to face him. Her eyes were green fire and from her expression, she was _not_ impressed.

"Excuse me?" She snapped.

Oh boy, she was angry. This was not panning out well for him.

"What I meant is that we need to talk. And rushing off and ignoring this conversation isn't going to make it any less real."

"What's your point?" She glared.

"I don't want to fight, Teresa." She visibly tensed at the use of her first name. "I just want to talk."

"There's nothing to talk about. I can't do this right now. I'm leaving and so should you."

Lisbon started walking towards the door, but Jane was too quick and blocked her path.

"You damn well know there's a _lot_ to talk about. And I'm not leaving, or letting you leave, before we've talked this through."

"Get out of the way." She warned but he didn't listen.

"No." He simply stated. "I want to talk and we'll talk."

She made a break to slip around him and escape, but he caught her, pinning her against the door. His breath was heavy and warm on her neck.

"Don't do this Jane."

He touched his forehead to hers. "Do what? I just want to talk about what happened on the roof."

"Please..." _Why am I pleading? Teresa Lisbon doesn't plead, especially not to Patrick Jane!_

Then their eyes met – fiery green and oceanic blue - and it was as if they were up on the roof again. Jane lowered his lips to hers and kissed her. This time it was slow. She resisted at first, but then she softened in his arms, her hand came to grip his vest and she reciprocated with equal gentle intensity. Neither of them knew how much time had passed, but when they broke for air (the room slightly spinning), it was as if time had stood still.

Jane looked right into her eyes and noticed that they were starting to water.

"We can't do this." She pushed him back and managed to storm off.

_I love you. Don't leave._

A million questions hit him like a wave as he stood frozen in place.

How did that happen? He had wanted to talk and come to terms with what they had shared, not scare her away! How did he not see this coming? Why did he let this happen like this? The look in her eyes told him that she was hurt. That she was scared. _Why was love so difficult, so painful?_Then he remembered what Cho told him:_You know is real when it hurts, when you're scared. It only makes it worth it at the end. Knowing you fought for what you wanted. Knowing you fought for love._

Outside he heard her SUV speed off into the night, and he knew it was too late to go after her. So he closed her office door and settled himself on her couch. He would be here tomorrow when she came in earlier than anyone else. He would wait for her. He wouldn't give up.

There was something there between them, he knew it and he knew that somewhere inside she knew it too.

And it was something worth fighting for.

_She is worth fighting for._


	7. Chapter 7

**Thanks to everyone of you who is reading and especially those who give me your thoughts with a nice review. You all rock! *hugs* Can't believe I have that many reviews for six chapters! So this is the longest chapter so far. It was 10 pages long so I want to thank my Awesome beta; Zanny! She's the best. :) Enjoy! BTW, the bold letters in the story are flashbacks. :)**

**A/N: ****IMPORTANT**** PLEASE GO AND VOTE FOR ROBIN TUNNEY! VOTE FOR HER TO BE GLAMOUR MAGAZINE'S WOMAN OF THE YEAR 2011! GO TO ROBIN TUNNEY GREEN SHADES WEBSITE FOR THE LINK! :) SHE DESERVES IT! **

**DISCLAIMER: You think by know everyone would know I don't own the show! :(**

********THE MENTALIST********

Teresa Lisbon sat on her bed, lost in her own thoughts. She was so confused.

She didn't exactly know what was happening with her and Jane. Why they had shared not one, but two kisses. Why it felt so good to be around him; to be in his arms, to be held by him, to be pinned by him, to be kissed by him.

_What is happening to me? Can't I just figure how I feel about him? Friendship..? Something more..?_

She couldn't do this; not with him, not with anyone. But especially not with him.

_Love hurts_. She couldn't let herself fall in love again; not after what happened. Not after all that she's been through. She accepted a while ago that love just wasn't meant for her. She was better off alone, where no one but herself could hurt her.

It's not his fault. She just couldn't bring herself to the deception of loving someone else again. Because in the end, they all left her. Hurt her. Whether they meant it or not. At the end it was only her that got hurt. Only her that shed tears while they went on with their lives. Forgetting her; always leaving her behind. It's happened too many times for her to get over.

A single tear rolled down her eye, staining her face as she remembered back to that day that made her doubt love. Remembering the man who had stolen her heart for the first time; the man who broke it afterwards. That day was one of the hardest moments of her life. If Jack hadn't been there to help her, she would have been lost. And that hadn't been the first time he was there; she owed him so much. Even if he said otherwise.

"Tess?" A familiar voice called on her bedroom door. She wiped the tear stain away before Jack would see it.

"Yeah?" She tried to keep her voice from quivering.

"Did I wake you?"

"No, come in... What's up?"

"I brought you something to eat." He said, holding up the PB&J sandwich and glass of milk he was balancing on a platter. "You didn't come down for dinner. I know you're not hungry, but just in case…"

"Thanks."

"Are you ok? You were quiet when you came in. Something wrong?"

She gave him a small smile, probably meant to be reassuring.

"I'm fine. It's just a hard case. Getting to me, I guess."

"Tess, I know you. I can tell that's not it. Cases make you mad, not cry." He said, carefully watching her face for anything that'll give her away. He always started like this – gently pointing out the problem, hoping she'll be honest with him first. But she was being really evasive… He gave her a look that said he wasn't buying it.

She sighed; gave a watery smile, knowing Jack would always know when something was wrong.

"Why do you have to be such a smart-ass?"

_Really, why? _Things like these reminded her of Jane. Which in turn reminded her of that amazing kiss. _Kisses. _She reminded herself.

"So what happened?"

"Really, Jack. It's just a case." She looked away. "It's the ones involving kids that get to me the most."

"Yeah, I would think so," Jack reached up to touch her chin with one hand and turned her face to look at him. "There's something else bothering you."

Both held eye contact.

"Is it about a certain consultant of yours?"

"What? No!"

But she said it too quickly, which confirmed Jack's suspicions. She's never been a good liar. Her eyes always betrayed her. Every time. The more she tried to deny it, the more it showed.

There was something going on between those two. Whether they knew it or not.

Jack smiled knowingly and Lisbon frowned.

"Why are you looking at me like that..? Stop smiling. It's creepy."

"You were never good at lying, beautiful."

Lisbon opened her mouth to say something but nothing came out. _Am I really that easy to read?_

Jack chuckled, seeing how she was struggling to find words. In moments like this, she often amused him; how unbelievably thorough she was in her career, but how socially retarded she could be when it came to her personal life.

She was tough, that's for sure. She survived her deal of hardship: a horrifyingly troubled childhood, the disaster of her first love. Those hardships were the things that shaped here, the things that turned her into the strong woman she was today.

He couldn't blame her for being so closed up when it came to love. Not after what that bastard did to her. Just thinking of it made him boil with anger.

"I just don't know what to do with my life."

Her voice brought him back from his thoughts. Turning to look at her, he noticed her watery eyes.

"You know you can tell me anything, Tess."

"I know," She hugged him. "It's just so hard."

Resting her head on his shoulder, she went on.

"It's hard…" She whispered, and tears stung her eyes. She let them fall until numerous salty rivers streamed down her cheeks. He hugged her tighter. "I don't know how to move on from it… It's just… I don't… I don't know how."

"Teresa, listen to me. You can do anything if you just trusted yourself enough to let yourself."

"I tried." She was sobbing now. "I really did, I tried so hard… But I'm afraid."

"Listen," Jack pulled away and made her look at him, straight in the eye. "You can't let what happened with Nick stop you from moving on. Don't let him control your life. You are much stronger than that."

Lisbon swallowed the sob threatening to escape her thoughts and wiped her cheeks.

This was why she kept Jack around. He always knew how to make her feel better. They've known each other for years, since they were kids; even then, he was a protector. When her father got violent and fists started flying, Jack's house was always a safe haven for her and her brother's to escape to.

One night, things got particularly bad – her father had his pistol in his hand, raving wildly. He shot the carpet, which was sopping wet from spilt tequila. The living room was alight in seconds. Jack arrived his just time convince the drunk, sobbing man not to point the gun at one of his four children. He couldn't however, convince him not to end his own life in the burning room.

If it wasn't for Jack, she'd be dead.

"Thank you," She hugged him tighter as if she was afraid to lose him. "You always know what to say to make me feel better."

"Well, I am pretty smart." He chuckled with joking arrogance, when he heard her snort.

"Very smart indeed." She pulled away.

"Now, are you sure that's the only thing that is bothering you?"

"Yeah." _No. _Her heart said.

Jack didn't look convinced, but let it go. Right now she needed to rest and he wasn't about to keep her from it. There would be time for that tomorrow. He was sure to make some if there wasn't.

"Okay then, but eat something, please." He pointed to the food. "And get some rest, Tess. I mean it." he warned her.

"Yes Sir!" She faked saluted, if only to amuse him for being so serious. She felt at ease with him. She took a bite of her sandwich to show him that she would eat it. His smile grew wider and she rolled her eyes.

"Night, Beautiful."

"Night, Jack." She said while taking a sip of milk.

**XXX**

She tried her best to sleep, but it just didn't come. She tossed and turned the entire night. The events from yesterday haunted her; every time exhaustion sent her dozing, she'd wake up mere minutes later. An endless flood of thoughts flew through her mind at light's speed. Nothing added up. She questioned herself of the way she reacted to those kisses. Why did she respond to them if she was so sure she felt nothing towards him? _Right, cause I do feel something._

It was only six in the morning when she decided to go out for a run. What else could she do?

She couldn't go to work for another couple of hours and she couldn't go back to sleep. Running had always helped her clear her mind, so taking the covers off of her, she stood up, got her running clothes on and left her apartment.

While she jogged, her mind wandered to the past. To the days when her Mother was alive, when her Dad used to be her role model. When she was closer to her brothers. When she met Jack.

But everything changed the day her mother died. She started working at that Law Firm and earned minimum page, to help pay the bills that were piling up.

She remembered that first day she met Nick and fell in love. _Love at first sight, _she thought bitterly. When he promised her the world and she believed him. Because she was so in love. She was blinded by those beautiful blue eyes that captivated her and made her feel like she was the only girl in the world. _Their first date, their first kiss, their first time. _When he proposed. When they decided to get married. When she discovered his lies…

_***A young Teresa Lisbon walked into the first day of work. The building was big, the walls were grey and the people wrinkled and suit-clad. She felt the uneasiness creep in. It was her first day as the Assistant to Nicholas Montgomery. She had learned that this Law Firm was the biggest and most important one in Chicago.**_

_**At first she wasn't sure if she should have taken the job, but the need for money was growing and she needed to start somewhere. Her impatience and grungy teenage appearance made most restaurants pass her along as a waitress. Jack was a good friend of hers since childhood and his family was of money too. His parents were simple. Nice, stable people who moved to the nice, quiet neighborhood to raise their kids. That's how she and Jack met. One day she was outside playing with her brothers, when a big rental truck came into view. That day her Mother decided to go and greet the new neighbors and welcome them.**_

_**Her Dad was working, but she and her brothers went along with her. That day she met Jack and the rest was history.**_

_**So anyways, that was the reason for her getting this job in the first place. Jack's father was the one who pulled the strings and got her the job at the law firm. From what she's been told, she was to begin working for Arthur Montgomery's son, Nicholas. This was also the first time he would be working there. His father was training him to take over after him.**_

_**Teresa was only 20 years old. She knew what she wanted to do already, but she needed to save money to study and she liked earning it on her own. Not just because she got this job thanks to Jack and his Dad was she to put if off. No, she would work hard.**_

_**One minute she was standing there, minding her on business, trying to take everything in. She was nervous, her hands were shaking but she tried to calm herself down. She had spent some of her savings on the clothes she was wearing. She had to be presentable for this job. So she went out and bought herself a pencil skirt and a green top. Her make-up was light and her hair was long and in waves. She looked good.**_

_**She was on her way to look for the right office when all of a sudden a door opened. Out walked the most beautiful man she's ever seen in her life – especially compared to the old men that seemed to fill this place. He was tall, dark-haired with piercing, gorgeous blue eyes.**_

_**He was perfect. She felt herself stop breathing.**_

_**When all of a sudden he turned his eyes on her and she felt an electric current pass through her. She felt like she was floating; her hands and feet tingled and her chest fluttered. She had never felt like this before. Their eyes locked. It was love at first sight.***_

By now her eyes stung with tears. Her heart was beating erratically. She couldn't take it anymore. It hurt too much. Too much pain. She just wanted to forget. To leave it all behind. To start all over. Brand new. _Why was life so damn difficult?_

She wanted to believe Jane, but the truth of the matter was that she couldn't trust him. She couldn't trust him to not hurt her. He wanted revenge; he lived for revenge. How could she be with a man with such a bloody cause on his mind? Besides, he would always love his wife. He still wore that wedding ring. She would always be second best. He wasn't ready to move on, and something inside of her wondered if he would ever be. He was just confused. _Why do I always fall for the wrong guys? _Then again, who said she was really in love with Patrick Jane?

Who was she kidding? Of course she was in love with him. There was no point in denying it anymore.

It didn't mean she was about to fall into his arms any time soon. She wasn't about to let all the years she worked so hard on her career go to waste. A relationship between co-workers was not permitted – especially not with someone like Patrick Jane. All the work achieved was not about to be thrown out the window that easily. No sir. Yet in her heart she still wanted to believe there was hope. Maybe part of her was wishing for Jane to not give up after all.

She was so confused.

_**XXX**_

Getting off the elevator, the first thing she noticed was that Jane wasn't in his couch. Maybe he was up in the attic, but she didn't want to think much of it. So she headed to her office.

When she walked inside, she stopped dead in her tracks. There he was. Sleeping in her couch.

She froze.

He looked so angelic; she knew that no matter how much she wanted him to get the hell out of his office, how much she needed an environment where she could think without him popping into her head, she couldn't wake him. She knew he rarely got any sleep at all. She didn't have the heart to wake him out and kick him out.

Studying her options, she decided to let it be and headed to her seat. She would have to deal with him later.

She would wait for the rest of the team to arrive so that they could finish the case. Meanwhile, she would get started on the paperwork she had stacked. But she couldn't concentrate when he was lying right there in her office, looking like a Greek god? Life isn't fair, she thought.

_**XXX**_

He waited for her to wake him and kick him out, but it never happened. It gave him a glimmer of hope: maybe she cared too much to throw him out? It can't be a _bad_ sign.

Jane fought the urge to smile. That would have given him away. She would notice that he wasn't really sleeping and he didn't want to go. He wanted to spend more time with her, even if that meant in silence.

Anything would be better than nothing at all.

She didn't even notice he was in a different suit than the night before. Yup, he had been awake for a long time. Had even taken a shower in the locker room and then had breakfast. Afterwards, he headed back to her office and pretended to be asleep. Guess she must have really been distracted not to notice all his changes.

He had seen the hurt in her eyes last night. She was scared, that much he knew. There must be something deeper to it all. Some trauma from her past, perhaps. He knew parts of her childhood, but he had yet to discover it all.

Despite the fact that he so often described her as 'translucent' and teased her on how easy she was to figure out, there was a lot about Teresa Lisbon he was absolutely clueless about.

She was an enigma to him. Something that made her even more interesting in his eyes. She challenged him. Didn't take his crap like most people did. She told him off and instead of falling for his charms like most women did. And in her refusal to fall for his charms, she made him fall for her. _Funny how that worked._

He had only been in love once before. With Angela and he married her. Had a child with her. Lost her and that said child to a serial killer.

After that, he thought everything was lost with them. His desire to live, his ability to live. The only purpose in life left over for him was his quest of revenge. But he was wrong. Lisbon had proven him wrong.

At first he had been too stupid to realize his feelings, but not anymore. He was ready to fight for her. To not give up. Because he loved her. He wasn't about to lose her to anyone without a fight. He knew he had to work hard to achieve it. But she was worth it.

Last night, although it was painful at first, he took his wedding ring off. He had to. Wearing it would only disrespect Lisbon, and himself. There was no need to wear it anymore. Angela was never coming back. He wasn't married anymore. He would always love her and Charlotte, but he knew that he was destroying himself by holding on to a dead love so fiercely. And Angela wouldn't want that.

He loved Teresa now. If it weren't for her, he wouldn't have been able to move on. She had pulled off a miracle; she had made him love again. An even greater love if he was to be honest.

And he knew there was lots of things they needed to tackle first. There was that big issue: Red John. He had figured that she must thought of him too. But he wouldn't let him ruin this.

Not again.

_**XXX**_

She had been retreating from him. Sent him to interview the suspects with Grace and Rigsby, while she went with Cho. He didn't like not being with her, but he had to give her time. Not too long, though. He was a patient man, but for some reason she made him impatient. He yearned for her, he needed to know if she loved him back. For now, though, he waited.

In the meanwhile he would focus on finding the killer of that little girl. She deserved to have her killer thrown on his sorry ass in jail. He would make sure of that. That way, she could kill two birds at the same time. Getting justice done and making everyone feel better. Most importantly, Lisbon.

So the day went on and they got a very important lead; one that revealed a horrifying twist in the already terrible case. It led them to discover a child trafficking-ring. Poor Maddie was to be taken from home to never be returned again, but something lead to a mistake leaving the suspect to kill her instead. Life was a cruel sometimes. Most of the times. An innocent child lost her life and for what?

At least they discover who the killer had been and managed to save many kids. Maddie had given her life, but many more lived thanks to her. Her parents had been devastated. Jane knew how it felt. He too had lost an angel. But at least they now knew that she would rest in peace and the killer would pay.

He had seen Lisbon's face. She fought the tears threatening to come out when she was giving the news to the parents. It had been an emotional case but they had finally solved it.

_**XXX**_

"Case closed pizza?" Rigsby asked once they were done and in the office.

"I don't know." Jane said, feigning reluctance. Inside, he hoped Lisbon would say yes so that he could spend some more time with her. But he knew that after a case like this he mustn't bother her. Not tonight. He could wait.

"You guys go ahead. We have plans." Lisbon said while signaling to Grace and herself.

"Oh?" Jane raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, Jack invited me to dinner and I invited Grace to come along," She said avoiding his eyes. "James is coming along."

Like that would be a relief, Jane thought. He could feel that Rigsby wasn't happy with the events either. He probably didn't like the idea of James and Grace spending time to know each other.

"Hmm..." Was the only thing that came from Jane's mouth. He was stunned.

"We should leave now," Lisbon spoke to Grace. "To have time to get dressed. I'll pick you up at seven."

Jane didn't like that she was talking as if nothing was going on. He didn't like that she was going out with Mr Perfect – Jane knew about Jack all too well.

Cho was watching everything with hidden amusement.

"Okay, Boss." Grace began to get her stuff while Lisbon went to get her own. "Bye guys." She smiled and headed towards the elevators alongside her Boss.

Jane was left speechless. He wanted to spend time with her and she was leaving? To have dinner with another man!

"What do we do now?" Rigsby asked.

"I'm going home to Elise." Cho gathered his stuff. "I don't know about you guys."

Rigsby nodded and headed to the bathroom before going home. There was nothing better to do anyways.

"Cho wait," Jane spoke before Cho headed out. "You know more. Where is he taking her?"

"I may or may not have suggested a restaurant to Jack when he called earlier," Cho spoke. "And I may or may not have left that information in my personal agenda on my bottom drawer."

Jane smiled.

"Goodnight, Jane."

"Night, Cho."

He could always count on his Asian friend.

Rigsby returned after several minutes after Cho left.

"Rigsby! Just the man I was looking for."

Rigsby raised his eyebrow in confusion. Jane had a gleam in his eyes that meant trouble.

"What?"

"I'm about to invite you to go have some dinner with me since you are obviously hungry and have nothing to do."

"Jane that's sweet really, but I'm not..."

Jane cut him off. He just needed an excuse and Rigsby was being difficult. Figures!

"Not like that Rigsby," Jane fought the urge to roll his eyes. "Free food." He smiled when he saw Rigsby's eyes.

_Gotcha_!

"Okay, sure man." He grabbed his cell phone and wallet from his desk. "But no funny business."

Jane raised his hands and laughed while following Rigsby out and towards the elevator.

_This was gonna be good._

_********THE MENTALIST********_

_**What is Jane up to? :) Trouble?**_

_**Oh, don't forget to go and vote for Robin! And review... :) Thanks**_


	8. Chapter 8

**Ha! You didn't see this coming, huh? Me updating that fast. :) I worked so hard and stayed late to type this chapter and then Zanny checked it really fast too. She's awesome! **

**Thanks for all the alerts and reviews. You guys seen how many they are? Wow! You guys are the best. Also thanks for voting for ROBIN!  
**

**So here it is; I don't know if this is what you expected because it wasn't what I was going to write but then the characters took over. I swear. Plus the guys wanted to lead. :0 I'm really excited for ch.9 though because it reveals more of Lisbon's past with Nick and some serious Jisbon! Yay! **

**OK, this is longer that the one before. Enjoy! **

**Disclaimer: I don't own the show, but I do own Jack! :) **

********THE MENTALIST********

"Hey, honey." Elise smilingly greeted Cho as he came home. She gave him a peck on his lips and felt him smile as he returned her caress. "How was work today?"

"We finally solved the little girl's case. It was exhausting, to tell you the truth." He said while placing his belongings down. "Sometimes it's a pain to witness such horrible crimes."

Elise came to him and hugged him from behind. "I know baby, but I'm proud of you for what you do."

Cho smiled and held her hands as he spun her around to face him. This is why he liked coming home. Because he knew she would be waiting for him. Moments like these made him feel like the happiest man in the world. He hoped his colleagues would feel the same once they got together.

"I love you."

"I love you too." She kissed his cheek while he nuzzled her hair. "Dinner is ready, by the way."

"Just one more minute. I missed you so much today." He didn't let her go. "It's nice to feel you close."

"Okay." She smiled and hugged him tighter. "Did you tell the guys?"

"I wanted to, but with the case and their problems, I kinda left it out." He pulled away to look at her face. "Are you mad?"

"No..." She let out a laugh. "I could never be mad at that. You'll tell them when you can."

She leant up and firmly kissed his lips once more. "Now let's go and eat so that we can head to bed."

"Okay."

He watches his beautiful girlfriend promptly take the dinner out of the oven and he realizes just how much he loves her.

_**XXX**_

"You look great." Jack said to Lisbon.

"Thanks." Lisbon blushed. No matter how many times people said that - whether it be boyfriends, colleagues, family or friends - she was always embarrassed.

"Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah, let me just get my purse and we'll go. Remember we have to pick up Grace first!" She went to grab her coat and purse. "Where is James anyways?"

"He said he'll meet us at the restaurant."

"Okay then, let's go."

They picked Grace up at her place before heading to the restaurant – The Firehouse, a large building that might've once been its namesake. Jack opened the door for both the ladies and as they were heading in.

"Hey guys," James called out from behind, just as they entered. "Wow, you ladies look amazing." He was dressed in a handsome suit.

"Thank you." Grace and Lisbon said at the same time while they kissed him hello.

"What are we waiting for? It's getting chilly out here. Let's go in." Jack and James allowed the women to go in first and the followed.

Once they made it in, the ladies gasped at the place.

"The Firehouse is a popular Sacramento dining spot and is rated among the best in the city. So I was told." Jack grinned and Lisbon turned to smile at him then let her eyes wander again. The place was amazing.

It was really elegant. The Victorian exterior is punctuated with antique gold-leaf mirrors, paintings from nearby estates and fixtures from Sacramento landmarks. "After dinner, we can go take a stroll along the river; it's only a couple of blocks away." Jack said.

"It's wonderful." Lisbon said.

"Really beautiful." Grace added.

The hostess approached them and led them to their seats after checking their reservations. She then signaled for a waiter who handed them their menus, took their drink orders and left to come back later and take their orders.

The night was turning out well; Lisbon was finally starting to feel a little more relaxed, and that meant a lot seeing what had been going on lately. She felt at ease; tonight she had promised herself that she would sit down, enjoy a nice meal with family and friends and _not think about _work for once.

Nothing could ruin the moment.

_**XXX**_

"Where are we going, man?" Rigsby asked for what seemed like the millionth time to Jane.

"I told you to wait and see." Jane retorted back.

Rigsby rolled his eyes.

"And why did we have to go and change?" He asked while picking at his suit. "I don't like to be all dressed up while having dinner with a man." He whined. "It feels too much like a date."

"Only if you want it to be." Jane grinned.

"Stop it, dude!" Rigsby made a face. "If it weren't for me catching you and Boss kissing like that I would say you were hitting on me."

"What? I'm not good-looking enough for you?" Jane said chuckling.

"Stop it Jane, this isn't funny anymore." Rigsby grumbled and Jane decided to stop teasing him for the time being.

"I appreciate that you didn't mention the kiss incident with Lisbon."

It's not like he cared who knew. If it was for him, he would yell it to the world, but Lisbon would kill him. And he didn't want to risk tipping the fragile scale of their current relationship.

"No problem. What are friends for?"

"Well, technically you didn't say anything because Lisbon threatened you."

"Yeah, but I wouldn't have mentioned it anyways." Rigsby defended.

"Though you did mention it to Cho."

"I...I...ah..."

"I believe you owed him a hundred dollars for the bet you two had."

Rigsby stayed silent with embarrassment.

"We're here."

_**XXX**_

They were laughing. Really laughing. Telling stories of how they met, sharing embarrassing misadventures among each other. The point is that they were having a blast.

"So there I was, when all of a sudden, Tessie came stumbling into me and knocked us both into the mud." James was telling, struggling to contain his laughter.

"In her defense, I was chasing her so her eyes weren't exactly on the road ahead…" Jack defended.

"It was still hilarious." James added and Grace chuckled.

"Well, hilarious as it was, it ruined my dress." Lisbon smiled at the memory. They were only kids back then and they were playing outside. And believe it or not, she wore dresses. Like right now for instance.

"The food here is great," Grace sipped some wine. "Thank you so much for inviting me."

"You're welcome, Grace. It's always nice to meet the people Teresa works and is friends with." Jack said.

"And I have to agree with you Grace," James commented after swallowing a piece of meat. "The food is amazing."

The conversation turned to another escapade, and the table laughed heartily once again.

Then Jack looked up, and recognized a familiar face at the other side of the room.

_**XXX**_

"Right this way, gentlemen." Jane and Rigsby followed the smiling hostess to their seats; their seats, that just happened to be right next to Jack's table.

It had turned out that not only did Cho provided the restaurant's location, but had already made reservations under Jane's name. Ever-prepared Cho…

"Mr Jane?"

Jane immediately recognized the voice and smiled inside. He pretended not to hear him for just a minute then turned around once Rigsby pointed it out.

"Mr Jane, what a surprise!"

Lisbon immediately snapped her eyes up once she heard Jack mention his name.

She couldn't believe her eyes. Jane was here. Not only that, but he looked amazing. He wasn't wearing his regular three-piece suit.

No, this time he was in a tux. She had seen him dressed like that only once, but, wow, did he look great. And his eyes. Blue and sapphire-shiny. Truly beautiful.

"What a coincidence!" Jane pretended to be surprised. "I didn't know you guys would be dining here as well."

"We told you we were going out for dinner." Grace pointed out.

"Ah... but you never mentioned the place," Jane added, smiling, pointing out the fatal flaw in her theory. Then turned to look at Lisbon. "It's truly a lovely coincidence."

_God, she's beautiful…_ Jane thought. He had seen her in a dress only once before, but the one she was wearing right now blew that one to smithereens. It matched her eyes, making them shine like glistening emeralds, and hugged her curves to perfection.

He was a loss of words. He just wanted to... _God_! The things he wanted to do.

"There's no such thing as coincidences." Her voice broke his thoughts and he composed himself before replying.

"Says who?" He questioned with a smile.

"You." She reminded him.

"Gentlemen?" The hostess interrupted and signaled them to their seats.

"Ah yes..." Jane pretended to be reminded. "It would be lovely to stay and chat, but our seats are waiting." He pointed to their table. "Besides," he added "We don't want to keep you from your dinner. We should go." He told Rigsby.

"Nonsense. You should join us." Jack said.

_And the fish took the bait._

Lisbon looked alarmed at Jack. _What is he doing?_

"We really don't want to be a bother." Jane played his part to perfection.

"You're not bothering," James spoke. "We have plenty of room. Please join us."

Jane looked at Rigsby as in asking him a question and the big man only shrugged. He then took that as a yes.

"In that case, we would love to." He smiled at them all.

"You look great by the way, Grace." Rigsby told her after sitting beside her. "Red looks good on you." She smiled at him and quietly said thank you. Jane nodded, seeming to agree with Rigsby, but looking at Lisbon.

"So do you, Lisbon. That dress looks lovely on you." Jane euphemised while taking a seat. She blushed and he couldn't help but grin at her.

She was just adorable.

And she looked so unbelievably tempting tonight…

No one bothered to ask Jane and Rigsby why they were here together; they just settled in into comfortable conversation.

The atmosphere was great. Jane had to admit that if Jack wasn't competition, he would probably have liked Jack. He was a lot like Lisbon, a good, honest guy.

He also noticed that Lisbon was avoiding meeting his gaze. She kept to herself while the others made conversation. Rigsby and James bonded over sports, talking about it non-stop. This in turn annoyed Grace, since they seemed to tune her out.

Lisbon nodded once in a while to one of Jack's comments, but kept quiet most of the time. He figured it was because he was there.

He just hoped that she wouldn't mind him too much if he wanted this to work out anyway.

_**XXX**_

After dinner and drinks, they sat chatting. He could tell that Lisbon was enjoying herself. By now, the wine had set in and she was relaxing more, jabbering along with the conversation and laughing heartily at every joke.

The conversation was light and the atmosphere was turning out better. Soft music was playing and several couples were dancing on the floor.

Her glass was empty now…

"I'll go get us more drinks from the bar." Jack said, standing up. "Since the waiter is nowhere to be seen."

"I'll go with you and help out." Jane added, standing up as well. He felt Lisbon's questioning eyes on him.

As they arrived at the bar, Jack was the first one to speak.

"So Mr Jane, why is it that you're really here?" He placed their orders.

Jane smiled at how direct Jack's words were. Two could play at that game.

"For the same reason as you."

Jack grinned. "Which is?"

"To have a good time of course."

Raising an eyebrow, Jack let his eyes settle on Lisbon. Jane noticed.

"Exactly that same reason," He too looked at her from a distance. "Because we love her."

Jack turned back to look at him. "Is that so?"

"I know you know I love her," He then frowned. "And so do you."

"I do love her," Jack started to speak and glanced one look at Lisbon once again. "But only as a friend. A sister."

"That's the same thing I said before and look at me now. I'm admitting that I love her."

Their eyes met. Man to Man.

Jane's gaze a little less than friendly.

"I would at least appreciate it if you admitted you did too, but not as a sister. As a woman."

"And why is that?" Jack asked showing a smile.

"Because that way I would tell you that I'm going to fight for her love," He too smiled. "And it would be nice to play a fair game and know who my competition is. You know, have it out in the open."

"You seem so sure."

"I know what your game is," Jane stood up straighter. "I agree it's a good strategy, but it won't work out."

"You think you have me figured out," Jack smirked. "I am intrigued as to what you think my strategy is, though."

Jane let out a humorless laugh.

"You're playing the best friend card."

Jack seemed amused. "Which is?"

"Being there for her, helping her out. Consoling her at times, making her feel protected, liked, making her believe that you're her friend but wishing that one day she realizes that you're what she's been looking all along. And then one day, when she's feeling particularly vulnerable, you pounce with your warm, comforting smile and one thing leads to another and you claim her as yours."

This time Jack's grin grew.

"It won't work, Jack." Jane's eyes turned icy. "She won't suddenly wake up one day and realize you're the one and fall in love with you."

"Is that so?"

"Yes."

Deep inside of him, Jane felt an angry pang. A pang that was terrified that maybe it _would _work… He wished it didn't. He tried telling himself that that only happened in movies. Rarely in real life. He was not losing her… He wasn't…

"Well, it seems you have it all figured out, then." Jack turned to pick up the drinks standing ready on the bar top, and then turned back to Jane. "Well, I guess denying it won't help. You seem to have convinced yourself that you're right already."

"That's because I am." He picked the remaining drinks and followed Jack back to the table. And before arriving, he said one last thing. "If I have to fight for her, don't think I won't, Jack. And I fight to win."

They swiftly arrived at the table, all smiles, placing the drinks on the table and waded into the conversation (which, once again, had turned to sports).

Jane nodded at their conversations and sipped his drink, as did Jack. He noticed the looks that Lisbon was giving the both of them; suspecting, calculating.

Jane knew that Jack would be a hard competition, but he wasn't that worried. Okay, maybe just a little, but if Walter Mashburn hadn't taken her away, what are the odds Jack would stand a chance.

_Though you never know,_a voice inside of him kept repeating. And his jealousy only grew when he saw how easily Jack could touch her hand while he couldn't.

The next thing he knew, Jack was leading Lisbon to the dance floor.

_His Lisbon._

He saw how Jack turned around to look at him and winked. How dare he? No matter how much of a good guy Jack seemed to be, he wouldn't, _couldn't _allow this to go further, He had to do something.

Standing up and excusing himself, Jane walked away only to come back two minutes later. He noticed the look on Grace's face as her eyes jumped from him and Rigsby, then to the dance floor where the couples were dancing. She obviously wanted to dance – preferably with Rigsby. But he and James were too absorbed in their conversation to notice.

_Perfect._

"Would you like to dance, Grace" He asked, standing up and offering his hand for her to take.

She smiled, looked at Rigsby, rolled her eyes and agreed. "Yes."

_**XXX**_

"What's going on with you and Jane?"

"Nothing." Jack said, faking innocence.

"You can't fool me. I know there's something going on."

He smiled. Leave it to her to notice.

"He thinks I want to steal you away."

"What?" She asked with surprise.

"Come on; don't tell me you don't notice how jealous he is of me?" He looked at her while continuing their dance. "Oh my God, Tess. How haven't you noticed?" He smiled. "The man is head over heels in love with you and he sees me as a threat."

"W-Wait, what? Jane isn't… Why would he think that?"

"It's obvious really," He looked seriously. "Because of my looks." He cracked a smile.

She pinched him.

"Ouch." Jack whined.

"Be serious, Jack."

"Look, I'm dead serious. He thinks I'm in love with you."

"You told him you weren't, right?"

He looked away, ignoring her question.

"Oh my God, Jack." She was frustrated. "Why didn't you deny it?"

"He wouldn't have believed me anyways," He defended. "Besides, why do you care so much what he thinks?"

"I...I.."

"Unless you want him to know you're available.' He smirked and she glared.

It was so much fun messing with those two, Jack thought wickedly.

_**XXX**_

He led Grace to the dance floor and started to dance with her, but his eyes were over her shoulder. He didn't like the close proximity between Lisbon and Jack. That was supposed to be him. Like when they danced the first time…

After a few minutes, the announcer informed everyone that it was time to switch couples.

This is what he was waiting for. What he had planned.

"Would you look at that?" Jane smiled and practically threw Grace in Jack's arms and brought Lisbon to him.

Grace smiled at Jack and he back. She didn't know what to do. Then Jack took her hand and invited her to dance.

More Than Words started playing… As he arranged with the DJ, minutes before.

"You planned this, didn't you?" Lisbon asked.

"I don't know what you're talking about." He smiled at her and brought her closer. "If they're playing our song it's purely fate."

"Our song?"

"Our song." He stated. "It's the song we danced to at the high school reunion, remember?"

"Why are you really here, Jane?" She questioned. "Be honest."

"I wanted to see you," He honestly answered. "I been worried about you with the case and all. Plus I wanted to spend time with you."

When she didn't argue, he knew it was okay. She then settled her head on his shoulders.

Jane was elated. She felt so good in his arms. Warm and soft and feminine…

He never wanted to let her go. She smelled so good. So Lisbon-like, like cinnamon and sunshine.

Minutes passed, maybe hours, he didn't really know. He didn't really care.

He whispered in her ear and he noticed her shiver.

"Let's get out of here?"

"What?" She looked up at him with questioning eyes.

"Let's ditch them?" His eyes were twinkling. "Let's go. You and me."

"No, Jane."

But he could see something in her eyes. A glint that said 'Maybe… If you gave me a reason…'

"Live a little, Teresa." He smiled and held his hand out. Here he was, putting himself on the line. "Come on."

She didn't know what she was doing. She looked around and saw the lights were low and people could barely be seen. Maybe it was a mistake, she shouldn't have done it. It was wrong, so wrong.

But she felt herself reaching for his hand.

"Okay."

_********THE MENTALIST********_

**Maybe this wasn't what you guys expected when I said trouble, but at least it was a long chapter. **

**Holly, what are you thinking now, huh? lol :0**

**Please tell me what you guys think with a review. :)**


	9. Chapter 9

**Sorry for the many weeks(to put it nicely) of not updating. i swear i have a good excuse. I've been busy with work and some personal issues. Thanks to everyone who have taken their lovely time and reviewed. I really do appreciate the support. You are all amazzzzing and deserve chocolates and more. xD Some of you have asked about Jack... mmm Is he, or not? What happened with Nick? Some many questions. I cut this chapter into two parts cause it would have been too long. Enjoy...**

**Thanks to Zanny for taking the time to beta, despite fanficfion being mean to us. ;) You rock, girl!**

**Disclaimer: I hate saying this, but no, nothing belongs to me. I just borrow the characters to mess with them. **

********THE MENTALIST********

She couldn't believe she was really doing this. Was she crazy? And out all the people in the world, it had to be with Patrick Jane?

She felt like a teenager skipping school, scared that she'd get caught.

"Maybe we shouldn't be doing this, Jane."

"Too late now, Lisbon. I'm not turning back."

"But what..."

"I told you, I paid the bill. They won't even notice we're gone." Jane dismissed her worry with a wave of his hand, earning a scathing glare.

"They'll notice!" She looked out Jane's car window. "I can't believe I left them there."

Jane rolled his eyes. "If you're worried about Jack, don't be."

"And why not?" She turned to look at him while he continued driving, his eyes glued to the road.

Jane didn't want to say anything, but he was starting to get more than a little annoyed by her concerns for this _other _man.

"He's a big boy and he can take care of himself, Lisbon. What are you, his mother?"

She pinched his arm.

"Ouch!" He yelped, rubbing his 'wound'.

"That's what you get for being an ass." Lisbon turned to look back out the window and silence fell.

Jane could sense she was a little upset, and he felt a tinge of guilt. He really didn't mean to upset her; this night was supposed to be about her having fun. Why did she have to be so stubborn? Why couldn't she stop thinking (especially about _Jack)_ and let herself go?

Then again, that was a large part of why he loved her so much. He wouldn't change her for anything. She was amazing, just the way she was. Stubborn and over-thinking and amazing.

"I'm sorry, Lisbon," He began. "I wanted you to be happy for once."

"Who said I wasn't happy before?" She crossed her arms.

"That's not what I meant…" He said. "But I want you to be happy, because of me. Because of something I did. I want to spend some time with you alone." He pouted. "Is that so wrong of me?"

Her walls crumbled hearing his voice. That was sweet of him… Strangely sweet…

You know, why was it strange? Though his methods were unorthodox and some of the weirdest she's ever seen, he _could _be pretty sweet if he wanted to. _Not_ that she would ever admit it to him. His ego was big enough as it was.

"No, it isn't, Jane." She smiled – he could see she meant it, it twinkled in her eyes. "But don't you feel guilty or anything? I mean, we just left without saying a word…"

He smiled and looked back at her. "Don't worry; I left them a note."

That sneaky bastard. He left a note. He knew she'd say yes.

She wasn't even gonna go there. Arguing with him wouldn't lead anywhere. So she let that pass. At least for now.

"So where are we going?" She changed the subject. He noticed but didn't want to ruin the moment.

"That's for me to know and for you to find out later." His eyes were twinkling with mischief. She noticed when he momentarily turned to look at her.

"Those weren't the rules, Jane." She said, crossing her arms defiantly.

He let out a small laugh; loving how easily it was for them to banter. He loved it. He loved her.

"When do I ever follow the rules, Lisbon?"

**XXX**

He led her to their table where James and Rigsby were. He turned to look at the dance floor where Teresa was still dancing with Jane… W-wait? She wasn't there anymore… Correction, _they_ weren't there anymore. What the...

They had just been there not a minute ago. Hmmm.

"Is something wrong?" Grace noticed his concern.

"Did you happen to see Teresa and Jane?"

"Yeah, they're on the dance floor…" She turned to point them out. "Or they were." She said when she couldn't find them.

"I wonder where they disappeared to."

"Is there something wrong?" James asked.

"Did you see where your sister went?" Jack asked turning to look at him.

"Wasn't she dancing with you?" Rigsby pointed out.

"Yeah man, what happened?" James asked.

"She was dancing with Jane," Jack added. "I just don't see them anymore."

"It is kind of dark. Maybe they just blended in with the crowd." Grace said while scanning the floor once more.

"Maybe they are making out in a dark corner." James joked.

Rigsby almost choked remembering the incident on the roof. Grace gave him a side glance.

If only he knew, both Rigsby and Jack thought.

"Sir, this was left for your table." A waiter handed Jack a note. Everyone looked at him expecting answers.

"What is it?" Rigsby broke the silence.

"It appears that Teresa and Mister Jane received a message and had to leave for a work-related emergency." Jack said, while watching how Grace and Rigsby acted on reflex to get up. "They said not to worry. That is something they can take care of themselves and we should stay and finish the night. Everything is paid for and the tab was left open in case we wanted to stay a while longer."

"See? They are fine," James smiled. "I say we should stay a little longer and get some more _free _drinks."

Rigsby shrugged and turned to look at Grace. "I guess if they needed us they would have said something."

"Yeah." Grace agreed with reluctance.

"Would... I mean... Do want to go dance with me, Grace?" Rigsby managed to ask.

She smiled. "Okay."

"I guess it wouldn't hurt to stay just a little while." Jack admitted with a smile.

"No, it wouldn't." James agreed, smiling, and he caught the eye of the lovely girl across the room who he's been eyeing all night.

**XXX**

"Are we there yet?"

"Almost. Hold your horses, woman."

Lisbon rolled her eyes. Patience has never been a strong suit for her.

"I don't get why you had to stop and blindfold me halfway through the trip." She pouted.

She was adorable – sitting there beside him, pouting so cutely with her arms crossed in defiance. He had to hold himself back from kissing her senseless.

Oh, he hoped he wouldn't have to go through this torture all night… Not with her lips so inviting and so close…

"Lisbon, Lisbon…" He shook his head – not that she could see him. "It wouldn't be half as much fun if you could see."

"You have a sick sense of fun." She shot back and he couldn't help himself from laughing. "Keep it up, Jane. I swear to God..." She said, warning heavy in her voice.

The car stopped. "We're here."

"Finally!" She said raising her hands to take the blindfold off, but halfway there, his hand stopped her. Their hands touched and froze.

It felt irrationally good to sit like this. Holding hands like teenagers – with just one, small touch, they silently grew addicted.

Lisbon cleared her throat, ending the moment.

"Just wait a little bit longer." He told her gently as he reluctantly released her hand.

"Hurry up, Jane." She said, amusement in her voice to ease the atmosphere. She desperately strained to keep herself from shivering, an after-affect from his touch.

"Alright then, let's go." He opened his door and went to open hers. "Take my hand."

"Why? I can walk by myself." She tried to argue.

"Lisbon, please just do what I ask this once," He grabbed her hand. "Trust me."

And she did. Why else would she have let him blindfold her if she didn't trust him? Realization hit her.

"Okay, but this better be good." She couldn't help and smile.

She trusted him. That was enough to take him over the moon. Trust from someone like Lisbon, someone who's been through so much, meant a lot. For her to let her control-freak ways go long enough to let him blindfold and lead her, was a giant step in the right direction. He was beginning to feel her edge closer and closer to him – something that neither of them expected or really wanted at the very beginning – and he was starting to suspect that it was something more than friendship and trust. Maybe it was love? Their life-changing kiss left a giant unanswered question. And tonight would be the answer.

"Hold on tight; I'll lead the way." He wanted to laugh at how obedient she could be. _Adorable._

To tell the truth, he didn't really know where he would be taking her when he asked her to ditch the others. The only thing in his mind was to get her out of there and be alone with her. It was driving him crazy to see her across the table, talking with _Jack, _when he had so many things he wanted to say to her alone. He just wanted to be close to her and keep her away from...ahem... certain people.

He thought of the perfect place to bring her only while he was driving. In truth he was driving around the block for about five minutes, just passing time until he could think of a place.

It was somewhere he liked to go to, be by himself and get lost for a while. Now the only thing on his mind was that he wanted to get lost with her.

"Jane..."

"Oh, calm down. I'm not doing to walk you into a wall or anything." He chucked again. "Oh, I forgot something. Hold on. Stay right here and don't move, okay?"

"Where am I gonna move to if I can't see, Jane?" She said exasperated. "Just hurry up."

"Testy." But before she could reply he ran back to the car to get what was needed.

She was getting tired of all the waiting around, but didn't want to ruin the moment by yelling out for him. She wasn't _that _weak. Even if she didn't like to admit it, this was kind of fun. At first she was annoyed when Jane pulled out the blindfold, mainly because she was a notorious control freak and hated not knowing what was going on. But strangely, it was turning out to be pretty okay. Seeing Jane like this was a plus. He was simply adorable sometimes. Even though he could often be annoying.

But she wouldn't change him for the world. He challenged her, he intrigued her, he kept her on her toes.

Now she was just curious as to what he had planned.

"I'm back. Here take my hand. Though you might want to take off your shoes to walk comfortably."

"Why? Where are we?" She went to uncover her eyes but he stopped her again.

"Not yet, my dear." He was using one hand to stop her and the other to carry the things. Good thing he always carried a blanket along other stuff in his car. You never knew when you were going to need them.

"Fine, but give me support to get them off. I don't want to trip."

"We wouldn't want that would we?" He asked with a smile as she leant into him. He didn't mind at all. The more touch, the better.

When she finally took them off she could feel the sand in her feet. They were at the beach and the sand was warm.

"We're at the beach!" She smiled.

"Well yeah. I wanted to take you somewhere special," He looked up to see her smile, still blindfolded. He knew he did something right. "Come along." And so she took his hand again and with the other she carried her shoes.

They came to a stop and he spread the blanket. He helped her sit down and sat next to her.

"Can I take this thing off now?" She asked hopefully.

He removed the blindfold off her eyes and he found them closed. A smile crept over him. It seemed that he couldn't stop smiling when she was around.

"Open your eyes," he whispered. Their eyes met again and they felt each other being pulled together. Like two powerful magnets. All he wanted to do was kiss her but he used all the power he had not to. He wanted to show her that she was more than just a warm body for him. That he loved her and she wasn't just a fling.

He didn't exactly know what had happened to her in the past but he could feel it must have been something big to make her shut down like that. Not only the events with her father, but there was something much more to that. Maybe a past love gone wrong. Bosco? Jack? Someone he didn't know about yet?

"I brought you here so we could watch the sunset. I usually come here alone and think, but now I wanted to share it with you."

She didn't ask what he thought about when he came here. She didn't need to. All she did was caress his cheek and thank him. It was really sweet of him to bring her here. It meant a lot to her that he trusted and cared for her that much.

He found herself leaning in into her touch and closing his eyes.

Powerful feelings were surfacing, feelings he hadn't felt in a long time and wasn't supposed to feel ever again. But how could he resist her? After all the years of ignoring their chemistry, after all the years of depriving both of them from what he knew could be the greatest thing they ever knew…

She was special. She has been all along.

He cursed himself for not seeing it earlier, and silently made a mental note to thank Cho profusely for being so kind to point out the obvious. Without his gentle nudge in the right direction, they could both still be living in Denial City.

"Thank you, Jane." He opened his eyes and there they were: those soul-penetrating green orbs of hers, staring right at him. Those beautiful eyes that did all kinds of things to him. Those beautiful eyes that he wanted to wake up to every morning. The eyes of the woman he loved.

Yes, loved. He felt the words threaten to spill out of his throat, but he knew he had to keep them at bay. She was still a flight risk; if he scared her off now with big four-letter-words that start with "l", he could lose her and he wasn't about to gamble that.

"Thank you for being here with me, Teresa." Her name was velvet on his tongue. He hoped she wouldn't mind the use of her first name. Her eyes seemed surprised, but she didn't protest.

Her smile remained on her face, and he felt the urge to kiss her fall upon him again. So close… Inches, mere inches, from those addictive lips of hers and he couldn't.

"The sunset looks beautiful out here. I wanted to share that special moment with you. Only you." His eyes were twinkling; she found herself wanting to capture his lips. She fought off the urge, unbeknownst that her object of desire was fighting the same action as she did. "I'm sorry you had to leave your brother and friend. Forgive me?"

How could she be mad at him or not forgive him when he said things like that? The man was one smooth talker. Something about the way he said things, and the things he said, made women weak in the knees. Oh, and that smile. She found herself frowning at that thought. She didn't like it when he smiled at other women. She didn't like all that special attention directed at someone else.

"What's wrong?" He asked, noticing her frown and the small pout she had started to form.

"Uh, nothing." She said too quickly and turned around, no longer touching him.

"Lisbon, I've known you longer than yesterday. Something's up. What did you just think of that bothered you?" He tilted her chin to his direction, bringing her eyes along with it. "Please tell me. I hate seeing you upset." Even if that pout was adorable and all he could think about was kissing it away.

"Nothing really. It's just something silly that popped into my head." She looked down.

"Did I do something wrong?"

"No, you were acting like a total gentlemen for a change."

He chuckled. "Hey, I'm always a gentlemen." He teased.

At least that earned him a smile.

"Are you going to just tell me, or are we going to do this the hard way?"

"No, forget about it. It's nothing important."

"Everything is important when it comes to you, my dear."

She couldn't help smiling. The man was too good looking and sweet for his own good. _Good looking? Where did that come from? _she thought_. Dangerous thoughts, Teresa! _Well, he was. There wasn't really arguments to be made. Jane was easy on the eyes. Everyone knew that. No big secret.

"This isn't; trust me."

"Teresa, please _trust _me."

There it was; her name coming out of his mouth. It made her feel like nothing she had felt before. Not even with Nick. And she had been in love with him. Maybe it was because Jane was special. Nick had turned out to be a jerk and she sometimes wondered what she ever saw in him to begin with. Was what she had with Nick all those years ago really love? Or was it just a naïve flush of hormones and fun that ended up sticking? Sticking like gum on one's hair…

The gum that once you got off, you wanted it gone forever. Cause sure, it had tasted good at first, but once the flavor was gone, it was tar in your mouth. Especially if it somehow landed in your hair. But Jane… something in her told her he was different.

"I was just thinking that you smile like that a lot. To the ladies, when they pay you attention." She kept her eyes down, not wanting to look him straight in the eyes. "Nothing important, just a thought I had."

"Are you jealous?" He found himself saying before thinking it through. The words just came out and he wished she was. If someone was jealous it was because they liked you, right?

"Don't be silly, Jane!" She looked up at him with a frown. "I am not jealous. You can go smiling and flirting with all those women if you like. I don't care."

"Then why are you mad?" He asked with that irritating smile of his.

"I'm not mad! Why are you being such a jerk?" She turned to look elsewhere. "And wipe that stupid smirk off your face!"

He was loving this. She was jealous. He could see it in her eyes and in her attitude. _She was jealous!_ Of him paying attention to other women. Like he was of her attention to Jack or any other man to think of it. This was great; he couldn't help being delighted. It meant that she was interested in him. That made him want to jump up and do the macarena.

"There's no need to lie," He joked but he noted that she didn't find it amusing. "I'm sorry. To make it even, I'll tell you something."

That got her attention even though she was still avoiding looking at him.

"I'm jealous of Jack." He confessed, truthfully.

"What?" She turned around, facing him once more. She had heard it from Jack's lips, but didn't actually think it was true. It seemed ridiculous.

"You heard me," He took a strong hold on her hands. "I don't like sharing you with another man. I'm selfish like that."

That's when she felt it; when his hand smoothly ran across the skin of her arm – bare.

He wasn't wearing his ring.

********THE MENTALIST********

**Pweaseeee Review. ;)**


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